— 


— 


WOMAN 


VOLUME  IX 

(Effilomcn  of  ISnglanD 

BY 

BARTLETT  BURLEIGH  JAMES,  PH.  D. 


OF  WESTERN  MARYLAND  COLLEGE 


2Tf)is  IBtrftton 


‘  ,,nlEU  ON  JAPAN  VELLUM  PAPER 
IS  LIMITED  TO  ONE  THOUSAND  NUMBERED  AND  REGISTERED 

SETS,  OF  WHICH  THIS  IS 


No._  '  •! 

printed  for 

Mrs.  WILBUR  p.  RICE 


si  3  0  Y /Lys  '&■  93  <^yyi/i 


-.*>  j.  :  • 


CHARLES  IT.  AND  LADY  CA S TLEMA INE, 
DUCHESS  OF  CLEVELAND 

After  the  painting  by  IV.  P.  Frith ,  R.  A. 


Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  says :  “Mr.  Pierce ,  the  surgeon,  tells 
me  that ,  though  the  king  and  my  Lady  Castlemaine  are 
friends  again ,  she  is  not  at  White  Hall ,  but  at  Sir  D. 
Harvey  s,  whither  the  king  goes  to  her ;  but  she  says  she 
made  him  ask  her  forgiveness  upon  his  knees ,  and  promise 
to  offend  her  no  more  so,  and  that  mdeed  she  hath  nearly 
hectored  him  out  of  his  wits!' 


m  all  ages  anti  in  all  countries 

VOLUME  NINE  WOMEN  OF  ENGLAND 
BY  BARTLETT  BURLEIGH  JAMES ,  Ph.D.,  OF 
WESTERN  MARYLAND  COLLEGE  WITH  IL¬ 
LUSTRATIONS 


Varium  et  mutabile  semper  Femina 

Virgil 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LI  BRAKY 

CH&STMUT  Him  MASS. 


PRINTED  FOR  SUBSCRIBERS  ONLY 
GEORGE  BARRIE  Sr  SONS  PHILADELPHIA 


COPYRIGHT,  1908,  BY  GEORGE  BARRIE  &  SONS 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall ,  London 


Ha.11 2.1 

,WS9 


PREFACE 


IX 


has  been  taken  hold  of  at  the  point  of  its  appearance,  and 
then  not  lost  sight  of  until  the  end.  So  that  if  one  is 
interested  in  the  subject  of  costume,  he  may  find  a  full 
and  accurate  description  of  dress  from  the  time  when  tat¬ 
tooing  was  deemed  largely  sufficient  up  to  the  period  of 
the  present,  when  the  variety  of  feminine  attire  baffles 
description.  But  more  serious  subjects,  such  as  woman’s 
rights,  from  the  recognition  of  primal  rights  in  her  person 
to  the  setting  forth  of  the  modern  programme  under  that 
description,  are  consecutively  treated  through  the  chapters. 

A  debt  of  gratitude  cannot  be  discharged,  but  some  rec¬ 
ognition  may  be  made  of  the  author’s  sense  of  the  service 
rendered  him  in  the  writing  of  this  work  by  Dr.  John 
Martin  Vincent,  associate  professor  of  history  in  Johns  Hop¬ 
kins  University,  whose  courses  in  the  social  history  of 
England  furnished  the  first  incentive  to  range  in  that  field 
and  a  guide  through  the  labyrinth  of  manners  and  customs 
of  the  English  people.  Thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  J.  A.  Bur- 
gan,  whose  close  and  careful  reading  of  the  proof  is  not 
the  least  factor  in  the  presentation  of  the  book  free,  as  the 
writer  believes,  of  the  errors  that  only  eternal  vigilance 
may  exclude. 


Bartlett  Burleigh  James. 


®J)apter  5 

OT)c  2®tonien  of  ^rrijtstoric  Britain 


preface 


- 


"I 


fl,  ' 


PREFACE 

IT  is  no  slight  task  to  follow  out  the  windings  of  a  single 
thread  in  the  infinite  weave  of  society  and  by  loosing  it 
from  the  general  mesh  to  show  how  dependent  is  the  pat¬ 
tern  of  life  and  custom  upon  its  presence.  Such  a  task 
was  presented  in  the  endeavor  to  trace  along  from  remotest 
times  to  the  present  day  the  influence  of  woman  upon  the 
life  and  character,  the  efforts  and  ideals,  of  that  race  which 
has  come  to  be  known  as  English,  although  this  name  may 
not  properly  be  used  until  time  has  spun  into  the  vista  of 
the  past  peoples  as  vigorous,  if  not  influential,  as  the  one 
that  stands,  the  inheritor  of  their  virility,  at  the  apex  of 
modern  civilization,  whose  women,  clasping  hands  through¬ 
out  the  British  Empire,  form  a  splendid  chain  of  hope  for 
womankind  in  all  the  world. 

Whether  or  not  continuity  and  sequence,  relation  and 
effect,  have  been  maintained  in  the  retraversing  of  the 
footsteps  of  woman  in  all  ages  of  the  history  of  those  isles 
where  femininity  has  flowered  in  the  most  gracious  blos¬ 
soms,  it  remains  for  the  reader  to  say.  Certain  it  is  that 
unaffected  pleasure  has  been  afforded  the  writer  in  his 
attempt  to  draw  aside  the  curtain  that  the  muse  of  history 
jealously  employs  to  shut  from  view  the  inner  sanctuary 
in  which  she  preserves  those  vital  relics,  the  destruction 
of  which  by  some  inconceivable  iconoclast  would  bring 
death  to  the  world  for  lack  of  materials  for  reflection  and 


Vll 


Vlll 


WOMAN 


inspiration.  In  treating  of  the  prehistoric  periods,  although 
the  brush  necessarily  has  been  laid  broadly  upon  the 
canvas,  fancy  has  been  kept  in  the  leash  of  fact,  and 
imagination  given  no  more  play  than  its  legitimate  func¬ 
tion.  Still,  the  results  of  inquiry  into  the  status  of  woman 
at  this  far  remote  period  furnish  a  fulcrum  upon  which  to 
rest  the  lever  of  investigation,  in  order  to  lift  into  view 
the  strata  of  undoubted  history  of  the  periods  immediately 
subsequent. 

As  fast  as  the  widening  of  social  interest  afforded  the 
materials  for  use,  the  writer  sought  to  employ  them,  until, 
like  a  mountain  rivulet,  ever  widening  until  it  reaches  the 
plain,  he  found  himself  embarrassed  by  the  wealth  of  fact 
that  told  the  marvellous  story  of  the  most  notable  eman¬ 
cipation  in  the  history  of  mankind, — the  complete  separa¬ 
tion  of  English  woman  from  the  trammels,  inherent  and 
environmental,  imposed  upon  the  sex.  If  the  successive 
chapters  disclose  the  philosophical  relations  of  woman  in 
society,  it  will  be  because  the  reader  has  not  failed  to 
grasp  the  fact  that  in  any  such  theme  as  the  one  treated 
mere  continuity  of  subject  matter  would  constitute  a 
chronicle  and  not  a  history;  and  that  the  writer,  while 
seeking  not  to  make  obtrusive  the  connective  tissue,  has 
nevertheless  given  ample  scope  for  the  reflective  mind  to 
see  that  which  has  ever  been  present  to  his  own. 

As  to  the  actual  materials  employed  in  constructing  the 
book,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  no  important  writer  upon 
any  period  of  the  history  of  the  British  Isles  or  their 
people  has  been  overlooked,  and  that  the  passing  over  of 
the  political  and  constitutional  phases  in  order  to  select  the 
purely  social  has  been  an  endeavor  much  furthered  by 
the  writers  to  whom  reference  is  made  in  the  body  of  the 
work,  and  many  others  who  could  not  be  mentioned  with¬ 
out  burdening  the  text.  Each  fibre  of  the  thread  of  interest 


I 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 

IT  is  to  the  unpremeditated  contributions  of  savage  and 
barbarous  conditions  of  existence  that  we  must  look  for 
those  primal  elements  of  social  order  which  became  funda- 
'  mental  in  English  life  and  character.  Insomuch  as  those 
contributions  are  intimately  connected  with  woman’s  life 
and  work,  they  must  be  sought  out  and  set  in  order  if  we 
are  to  trace  the  development  of  the  status  of  the  women 
of  Britain.  In  doing  this,  the  confines  of  history  proper 
must  be  disregarded  and  the  inquiry  commenced  at  the 
earliest  period  at  which  the  student  of  the  geology  of 
Britain  has  been  able  to  discover  evidences  of  human  occu¬ 
pancy  of  the  country.  If  a  consecutive  account  of  the 
history  of  woman  in  Britain  were  intended,  we  should  be 
content  to  begin  the  story  with  the  woman  of  the  Neolithic 
or  Polished  Stone  Age,  for  to  such  remote  times  may  be 
traced  the  stream  of  life  and  institutions  in  England;  but, 
as  we  shall  aim  not  solely  at  consecutiveness,  but  at  com¬ 
pleteness  as  well  in  our  record  of  woman’s  life  in  the  British 
Isles,  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  even  further  into  the 
geologic  ages,  when  Britain  was  still  a  part  of  the  main¬ 
land  and  its  inhabitants  the  same  roving  savage  tribes  that 
wandered  over  all  central  Europe. 

From  those  barren  ages  of  the  Pleistocene  era,  which 
were  cut  off  from  the  Neolithic  by  great  stretches  of  time 


y 


4 


WOMAN 


that  cannot  be  certainly  calculated,  and  during  which  there 
was  a  lapse  in  the  human  occupancy  of  the  country,  little 
of  value  can  be  derived.  Their  chief  worth  for  our  pur¬ 
pose  is  the  picture  which  they  present  of  the  initial  stage 
of  human  organization,  the  study  they  afford  of  woman  in 
her  relations  to  a  thoroughly  savage  stage  of  society,  an 
era  of  hunting — that  of  the  Paleolithic  or  Rough  Stone  Age, 
when  there  was  fixity  neither  of  residence  nor  of  relations, 
and  when  man’s  contest  with  savage  nature  about  him 
was  dependent  in  its  issues  upon  the  slight  advantage 
furnished  him  by  the  rude  weapons  that  he  fashioned  from 
flint  flakes.  During  the  Polished  Stone  era,  when  in¬ 
habitants  are  next  met  with  in  Britain,  the  social  organi¬ 
zation  presented  is  that  of  the  pastoral  stage,  which  marks 
a  great  advance  over  the  hunting. 

In  all  the  progressions  of  uncivilized  life,  woman  is  but 
a  part  of  the  phenomena  of  her  times,  but  in  the  history 
of  English  civilization  she  appears  as  one  of  its  most  active 
forces.  These,  then,  are  the  two  correlated  views  of 
woman  in  the  history  of  English  life  that  will  be  constantly 
held  in  mind  during  our  whole  study, — woman  as  a  social 
fact,  and  woman  as  a  social  factor;  showing  her  as  a 
product,  as  affected  by  the  customs,  laws,  or  manners  of 
a  given  time,  and  again  as  an  influencing  factor  in  the 
institutions  or  the  manners  of  those  times.  Had  her  life 
been  as  circumscribed  as  that  of  the  women  of  a  cultured 
people,  English  civilization  would  not  owe  to  woman  the 
recognition  which  is  her  due  as  a  creative  force  in  the  arts, 
in  science,  in  literature,  in  religion,  and  in  all  the  ever- 
widening  circle  of  human  interests.  An  understanding 
and  estimate  of  her  influence  in  these  more  conspicuous 
relations  will  depend  upon  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  home  as  the  principal  source  of  the  English  woman’s 
dignity  and  power.  Much  that  has  entered  into  the  ideals 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


5 


of  the  English  race  can  be  fully  accounted  for  only  in  the 
light  of  home  ideals.  By  such  considerations,  then,  as 
have  been  thus  far  set  forth,  we  shall  be  guided  in  our 
endeavor  to  tell  the  story  of  woman’s  life  in  the  ages  of 
Britain’s  history. 

The  people  of  the  earliest  part  of  the  Pleistocene  age 
had  no  real  home  life,  nor  was  there  any  social  organization 
excepting  that  into  which  men  were  forced  by  the  neces¬ 
sity  for  mutual  aid  in  the  struggle  with  the  forces  of  savage 
nature.  This  element  of  self-protection  was  the  only  factor 
that  entered  into  the  organized  life  of  those  earliest  in¬ 
habitants  of  Britain, — the  people  of  the  river-drift  and  the 
caves.  In  this  combat  between  savage  man  and  savage 
■beast  were  produced  the  first  instruments  pointing  to 
civilization, — weapons  for  defence  and  offence. 

The  life  of  woman  among  the  men  of  the  river-drift  was 
of  the  most  debased  order.  The  only  employment  of  the 
men  was  hunting  the  gigantic  savage  beasts  that  ranged 
through  the  forests.  While  the  males  were  in  pursuit 
of  the  rhinoceros,  the  lion,  the  hippopotamus,  and  the 
great  antlered  deer  that  were  a  part  of  the  fauna  of  the 
whole  of  that  section  of  the  continent  of  Europe  of  which 
Britain  in  those  remote  times  formed  a  part,  the  females 
roamed  through  the  densely  wooded  forests  whose  only 
clearings  were  those  made  by  the  ravages  of  fire.  Clad 
in  the  skins  of  beasts  but  little  lower  in  the  scale  of 
being  than  themselves,  and  with  their  naked  offspring 
about  them,  they  wandered  about  in  search  of  berries  or, 
with  no  better  aids  than  sharpened  sticks,  dug  up  the  roots 
which  they  dried  and  stored  for  the  days  when  the  results 
of  the  chase  fell  short  of  the  needs  of  the  people.  On  the 
home-coming  of  the  hunters  to  the  place  where,  in  their 
nomadic  wanderings,  they  had  erected  temporary  shelters, 
the  women  prepared  the  miserable  meal.  By  skilfully 


6 


WOMAN 


rubbing  together  pieces  of  hard  wood,  a  fire  was  soon 
obtained;  if  fortune  had  attended  the  chase,  the  hastily 
skinned  animals  were  cut  up  with  flint  flakes,  and  the 
meat  was  thrown  upon  the  stones  placed  in  the  fire  for 
that  purpose.  There  were  no  niceties  of  taste  to  be  con¬ 
sidered,  so  the  half-cooked  and  badly  smoked  flesh  was 
snatched  from  the  fire  and  eaten  with  no  more  decorum 
than  might  be  found  in  the  meals  of  the  cave-hyena  that, 
under  the  shadows  of  night,  skulked  through  the  under¬ 
brush  and  noisily  devoured  the  remnants  of  the  hunters’ 
feast. 

On  the  day  following  the  hunt,  the  women  undertook 
the  arduous  work  of  curing  the  skins' of  the  slain  animals. 
In  the  initial  stage  of  the  process  they  used  stone  scrapers, 
sharp  of  edge  and  probably  set  in  bone  handles.  Hun¬ 
dreds  of  these  implements  have  been  found.  The  women 
acquired  great  dexterity  in  this,  one  of  their  customary 
employments;  and  while  the  men  lounged  about,  resting 
from  the  fatigue  of  the  hunt,  or  occupied  themselves  with 
painting  their  bodies  with  ochre,  or  tracing,  with  a  splinter 
of  stone,  rude  devices  on  pieces  of  polished  reindeer  antler, 
the  work  of  the  women  went  industriously  on. 

Men  of  such  undisciplined  natures  as  those  of  the  people 
of  the  river-drift  could  not  exist  together  harmoniously; 
very  little,  indeed,  was  necessary  to  embroil  them  in  bitter 
strife.  Their  women  were  a  frequent  cause  of  bloody  en¬ 
counters,  a  circumstance  which  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
there  was  no  permanence  in  the  relations  of  the  sexes; 
such  rights — seldom  individual — to  the  women  as  were 
vested  in  the  men  were  always  those  acquired  by  brute 
force,  and  held  good  only  so  long  as  the  fancy  or  strength 
of  the  men  permitted.  In  such  a  promiscuous  society 
there  was  nothing  to  suggest  the  home  of  civilization. 
To  men,  women  simply  represented  their  chief  possession 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


7 


and  were  held  by  them  in  common,  like  other  forms  of 
property. 

Such  an  age  was  almost  as  barren  of  material  utilities  as 
of  moral  conceptions;  so  that  one  looks  in  vain  for  evidence 
of  the  knowledge  of  such  arts  as  are  commonly  associated 
with  the  life  of  women  in  savage  societies.  Basket  work, 
weaving,  and  spinning  were  occupations  of  which,  it  is 
thought,  the  women  of  those  times  knew  nothing.  Pot¬ 
tery  was  unknown;  gourds  served  for  drinking  cups  and 
for  the  holding  of  liquids,  and  were  used  also  for  cooking. 
Among  the  memorials  of  woman  of  these  remote  times 
appears  no  trace  of  the  charms  and  fetiches  which  usually 
.accompany  the  performance  of  domestic  duties  among 
primitive  races.  Nothing  lower  in  the  scale  of  human 
existence  could  be  imagined  than  the  lives  of  these  women 
of  the  river-drift,  to  whom  nature  made  no  appeal  save 
that  of  fear  of  its  furious  moods,  to  whom  sex  meant  not 
the  possibilities  of  pure  wifehood  and  motherhood,  but 
servitude  to  the  demands  of  passion.  When  children  were 
not  vigorous,  or  when  for  any  reason  their  nurture  became 
irksome,  they  were  ruthlessly  slain,  even  by  the  mothers 
themselves;  and  every  woman  knew  that  the  lot  of  aban¬ 
donment  was  reserved  for  her  when  she  could  no  longer 
fulfil  the  hard  conditions  of  her  existence. 

In  some  respects,  the  life  of  the  women  of  the  cave- 
dwellers  of  the  later  Pleistocene  period  was  of  a  higher 
order  than  that  which  we  have  just  described — not  that 
there  was  any  essential  difference  in  the  social  grade  of 
the  two  peoples,  but  that  the  cave-dwellers  had  learned  to 
make  better  implements  of  the  chase  and  to  fashion  more 
effectively  all  their  weapons  and  tools.  The  greater 
security  to  life  afforded  by  these  improvements  and  the 
greater  assurance  of  subsistence  led  to  more  settled  living, 
and  thereby  afforded  an  opportunity  to  develop  a  social 


8 


WOMAN 


organization  that  should  have  for  its  basis  something  of 
greater  permanence  than  a  temporary  need.  While  it 
would  be  hazardous,  then,  to  assume  too  much  in  the  way 
of  improvement  in  the  life  of  the  women  of  the  cave- 
dwellers  over  that  of  the  women  of  the  river-drift,  yet  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  states  of  society  such  as 
those  represented  by  these  remote  inhabitants  of  Britain, 
even  a  slight  advance  in  the  scale  of  living  marks  an  epoch 
of  progress. 

The  cave-dwellers  succeeded  the  people  of  the  river- 
drift  as  inhabitants  of  Britain,  and  the  combined  occupancy 
of  the  country  by  these  peoples  covered  a  vast  stretch  of 
time.  It  is  very  probable  that  their  periods  overlapped, 
and  that  the  later  people  were  in  part  contemporary  with 
the  former.  Though  the  people  of  the  river-drift  and  the 
dwellers  in  caves  may  have  avoided  intermixture,  as  have 
the  Esquimaux  and  the  American  Indians,  yet  there  is 
nothing  absolutely  to  preclude  the  idea  that  such  race  dis¬ 
tinction  was  observed  during  great  periods  of  time.  So 
that  all  we  have  to  say  of  the  women  of  the  cave-dwellers 
may  be  equally  applied  to  the  women  of  the  later  times  of 
the  river-drift. 

The  cave-dwellers,  like  their  predecessors,  were  hunters. 
For  their  dwellings  they  chose  the  caves  from  which  they 
had  driven  out  the  bear  and  the  lion.  These  rude  homes 
the  women  hung  about  with  the  skins  of  the  horse  or  the 
wolf,  and  spread  on  the  floor  for  couches  the  hides  of  these 
or  of  other  beasts  that  had  fallen  by  the  arrows  of  the 
hunters  or  had  been  ensnared  in  their  pitfalls.  Here  the 
tribe  remained  until  the  scarcity  of  game  or  the  assault  of 
enemies  impelled  it  to  migrate.  Where  there  were  no 
caves,  huts  were  constructed.  These  were  framed  with 
the  branches  and  trunks  of  trees  and  covered  with  skins 
and  hides. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


9 


The  woman  of  the  cave-dwellers  was  a  sturdy  specimen 
of  her  sex,  and  the  long  and  arduous  migrations  in  which 
the  burden  of  the  work  fell  upon  her  shoulders  were  prob¬ 
ably  borne  with  little  sense  of  hardship.  We  can  imagine 
a  tribe,  travelling  afoot,  for  as  yet  neither  the  horse  nor 
any  other  animal  had  been  domesticated:  the  men  with 
their  long  fish  spears  across  their  backs,  their  stone 
arrows  hanging  at  their  sides,  and  their  bows  in  hand, 
always  alert  for  the  wild  beasts  with  which  they  waged  a 
relentless  warfare;  the  women  laden  with  all  the  para¬ 
phernalia  of  their  simple  existence,  many  with  a  babe 
slung  at  the  back,  and  their  naked,  uncouth  progeny  fol¬ 
lowing  or  gambolling  about  them.  The  strange  personal 
appearance  of  both  men  and  women  would  add  to  the 
oddity  of  the  scene  in  modern  eyes,  for  their  bodies  were 
painted  in  grotesque  patterns,  and,  if  the  rigors  of  the 
season  made  any  covering  necessary,  a  simple  skin,  laced 
about  them  with  reindeer  sinews,  sufficed  for  clothing. 
On  coming  to  a  fresh  hunting  region,  near  to  some  body 
of  water  or  flowing  stream,  where  the  game  would  natu¬ 
rally  come  to  slake  their  thirst, — perhaps  upon  the  grassy 
plains  that  still  extended  over  what  is  now  the  English 
Channel  and  formed  a  part  of  the  original  land  connection 
with  the  continent, — they  paused  for  another  term  of  set¬ 
tled  residence.  Again  the  caves  were  resorted  to,  or  rudely 
thatched  huts  were  erected.  If  the  wild  beasts  pressed 
the  wanderers  too  hard,  they  sometimes  had  recourse  to 
huts  erected  upon  rough  stone  heaps  in  the  midst  of  an 
oozy  swamp. 

While  the  men  gave  themselves  wholly  to  hunting,  the 
women  went  about  their  domestic  pursuits.  To  them  was 
assigned  the  making  of  such  scanty  clothing  as  was  impera¬ 
tively  required  in  the  cold  season;  for  though  the  crude 
carvings  of  the  time  invariably  represent  the  hunters  as 


10 


WOMAN 


naked,  it  cannot  be  concluded  from  such  evidence  that 
clothing  was  not  worn  at  all.  The  extremely  serviceable 
reindeer  sinews  served  the  women  for  thread,  and  a  thin 
reindeer  prong,  pierced  through  at  the  thick  end,  made  a 
satisfactory  needle.  The  skins  were  simply  sewed  together 
at  the  edges,  without  shaping,  but  with  apertures  through 
which  to  pass  the  head  and  arms.  The  women  devised 
many  ornaments;  these  consisted  of  amulets  and  necklaces 
made  of  bone,  ivory,  and  shells,  which,  shaped  and  pol¬ 
ished,  they  painstakingly  punctured  and  fastened  together 
in  long  strings  for  the  decoration  of  their  necks  and  arms. 
Apparently,  it  was  not  customary  to  wear  foot  covering  of 
any  kind,  as  the  feet  of  such  skeletons  of  this  period  as 
have  been  found  are  so  symmetrical  as  to  preclude  the 
probability  of  constraint  during  growth.  The  men  may 
have  worn  some  form  of  foot  covering  when  engaged  in 
such  exposed  work  as  spearing  the  seal  in  the  winter 
season;  but  the  women,  who  remained  in  shelter  during 
the  severities  of  the  winter,  did  not  avail  themselves  of 
any  such  protection.  The  fact  that  gloves  were  worn  by 
men  seems  to  be  established  by  some  of  the  rude  etch¬ 
ings  of  the  period,  for  in  them  such  articles  appear  to  be 
discernible. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  homes  of  these  hunting 
tribes  was  of  the  worst  description;  the  offal  and  refuse 
were  thrown  at  the  very  doors  of  the  cave,  there  to  decay 
and  poison  the  air.  The  caves  themselves  were  smoke- 
begrimed  and  foul,  for  house  cleaning  had  not  yet  entered 
into  the  economy  of  woman.  While,  by  reason  of  their 
simple,  open-air  life,  they  were  a  vigorous  race,  the  ills  to 
which  the  cave-dwellers  fell  a  prey,  the  injuries  they  suf¬ 
fered  in  warfare  or  from  the  attacks  of  wild  beasts,  or  the 
diseases  contracted  through  unsanitary  living,  must  have 
been  sources  of  great  dread  to  them,  as  they  were  without 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


1 1 


any  medical  knowledge  of  which  we  have  trace.  When 
the  women,  particularly,  became  too  sick  to  perform  their 
allotted  tasks,  they  were  carried  out  to  die  or  to  become 
the  victims  of  savage  beasts;  but  this  was  only  one  of  the 
inevitable  phases  of  an  existence  that  was  replete  with 
tragedies. 

From  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  great  abundance  of 
arrow  heads  and  spear  points  surviving  from  this  period, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  cave  men  were  much  given  to 
warfare.  Aside  from  the  natural  pugnacity  and  ferocity 
of  savage  races,  which  lead  them  to  fight  upon  very  little 
provocation,  there  was  with  the  cave-dwellers  another 
source  of  constant  hostility.  As  has  been  stated  with 
reference  to  the  river-drift  people,  the  women  were  not 
permanently  attached  to  the  men.  It  is  just  as  true  that 
they  were  not  permanently  attached  to  their  tribes,  for 
when,  through  disease  or  the  ravages  of  wild  beasts,  the 
women  of  any  horde  became  greatly  diminished  in  number, 
their  ranks  were  recruited  by  forays  upon  other  tribes. 
These  attacks  for  the  purpose  of  stealing  the  women  of 
their  enemies  were  especially  provocative  of  fierce  con¬ 
flicts,  as  the  depletion  of  its  stock  of  women  often  seriously 
crippled  a  tribe  and  sometimes  even  threatened  its  extinc¬ 
tion.  Such  forcible  transfers  of  ownership  must  have 
added  greatly  to  the  hardness  of  the  woman’s  lot,  for  by 
such  means  many  mothers  were  permanently  separated 
from  their  offspring. 

The  weight  of  probability  and  of  evidence  seems  to 
leave  little  room  for  doubt  that  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Britain  were  cannibals.  While  there  was  no  scarcity  of 
game  as  a  rule,  it  is  quite  likely  that  these  savage  peoples, 
as  those  of  the  same  grade  of  culture  in  all  times,  when 
experiencing  the  delirium  of  a  victory  over  their  enemies, 
put  to  death  by  cruel  tortures  the  unhappy  captives  that 


12 


WOMAN 


fell  into  their  hands,  and  then,  to  complete  their  triumph, 
roasted  and  ate  the  flesh  of  the  slain.  Aside  from  the 
deductive  probability  of  the  case,  human  bones  dating 
back  to  this  period  have  been  found  along  with  the  re¬ 
mains  of  weapons  and  in  association  with  the  ashes  of 
camp  fires;  and  in  such  cases  the  bones  have  invariably 
been  broken,  in  order  to  extract  from  them  their. marrow. 
The  story  of  the  battle,  the  tortures,  and  the  feast  is  elo¬ 
quently  suggested  by  the  silent  memorials  that  have  been 
preserved  through  the  lapse  of  ages.  As  we  picture  the 
far-off  scene  of  human  savagery,  the  figure  of  woman  flits 
through  the  lights  and  shadows  of  the  horrid  orgy:  for 
she  it  was  who  prepared  the  gruesome  repast;  it  was  in 
defence  of  her,  perhaps,  that  the  fierce  battle  was  fought; 
some  of  her  own  near  of  kin,  it  may  be,  she  has  been 
forced  to  prepare  for  the  unnatural  appetites  of  her  ene¬ 
mies.  Possibilities!  but  read  in  the  light  of  the  times, 
they  become  probabilities,  and  probabilities  furnish  much 
of  the  data  of  history. 

The  tragedy  of  woman’s  life  is  again  brought  before  us 
with  startling  vividness  when  we  look  upon  the  skull  of  a 
woman  of  this  remote  race,  as  it  lies  in  a  cave,  with  a  little 
stone  hatchet  beside  it,  where  it  was  ruthlessly  cast  after 
the  commission  of  a  bloody  crime;  for  in  that  skull  is  a 
jagged  hole  into  which  fits  the  blade  of  the  hatchet.  The 
scene,  sketched  from  a  remote  past,  might  have  been  an 
occurrence  of  yesterday,  so  close  to  us  is  it  brought  by  the 
silent  witnesses;  these  and  similar  relics  disclose  the  sad 
lot  of  woman  in  that  savage  society. 

There  are  fuller  evidences  of  the  state  of  domestic  re¬ 
sources  among  the  women  of  the  cave-dwellers  than  with 
those  of  the  river-drift.  The  remains  show,  too,  a  greater 
variety  and  adaptation;  for  while  there  is  no  clear  proof 
of  the  existence  of  pottery,  yet  the  cave  people  appear  not 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


13 


to  have  lacked  substitutes  for  it.  Vessels  for  boiling  meats 
were  probably  fashioned  of  small  stones  cemented  to¬ 
gether,  and  they  had,  also,  vessels  of  hollowed  wood.  The 
skulls  of  animals  served  well  for  drinking  purposes,  besides 
which  receptacles  for  holding  liquids  were  made  from  the 
skins  of  beasts.  Water  was  heated  by  placing  hot  stones 
in  a  vessel  containing  it,  by  which  means  the  fluid  could 
be  raised  to  any  desired  temperature.  Long  flint  flakes 
set  in  handles  answered  for  knives;  when  rounded  at  the 
edge,  the  same  material  made  serviceable  scrapers. 
Spoons  were  constructed  from  pieces  of  reindeer  antlers, 
hollowed  at  the  thick  end,  or  if  they  were  intended  to 
be  used  to  scoop  out  the  marrow  from  bones,  the  tapered 
end  was  hollowed.  For  their  food,  the  cave-dwellers, 
though  they  possessed  no  domesticated  animals,  had 
a  wide  choice  of  large  and  small  game,  birds,  fish,  rep¬ 
tiles,  and  grubs;  to  these  they  added  edible  roots  and 
berries. 

This  almost  indispensable  domestic  handicraft  was  not, 
however,  the  limit  of  their  achievement  in  designing.  We 
have  seen  that  woman’s  thought  and  some  of  her  activi¬ 
ties  were  applied  to  the  production  of  merely  decorative 
objects.  She  had  already  acquired  an  appreciative  taste 
for  the  auxiliary  attractions  of  personal  adornment.  The 
art  of  designing  certainly  found  a  place  in  the  occupations 
of  these  cave-dwellers,  and  the  most  familiar  animated 
objects  would  be  their  necessary  choice.  Hence,  we  may 
readily  conceive  that,  in  the  moments  of  respite  from  the 
chase,  the  rude  artist  of  this  age  would  make  of  the  cave 
passages  a  canvas  for  his  work  and  thereon  delineate  the 
animals  whose  importance  to  his  existence  rendered  them 
the  most  interesting  objects.  Nor,  for  this  reason,  would 
his  subject  fail  of  appreciative  criticism  and  of  educational 
value. 


14 


WOMAN 


It  is  impossible  to  state  the  nature  or  the  extent  of  the 
social  organization  among  these  people,  but  that  there 
must  have  been  something  of  the  sort  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  It  seems  equally  plausible  that  there  could  have 
been  no  recognition  of  law  in  the  lives  of  these  passionate 
savages,  excepting  as  the  will  of  some  more  than  ordinarily 
forceful  warrior  was  for  the  time  so  recognized.  An 
association  of  this  kind  admitted  of  the  sloughing  of  the 
groups  whenever  a  difference  of  inclination  or  of  interest 
suggested  such  a  course.  Promiscuity  undoubtedly  re¬ 
mained  the  characteristic  form  of  the  relation  of  the 
sexes,  the  conditions  of  life  admitting  of  no  more  enduring 
relations. 

The  culture  of  the  peoples  of  the  river-drift  and  of  the 
caves  signified  little  in  British  civilization,  as  these  shadowy 
tribes  passed  completely  out  of  view.  For  a  period  of  time 
that  could  be  expressed  only  in  the  term  of  vague  geological 
computation,  the  country  remained  devoid  of  inhabitants. 
Meantime,  changes  were  wrought  in  Britain’s  physical 
features.  The  land  became  insular,  although  the  subsid¬ 
ence  that  gave  rise  to  the  English  Channel  was  not  yet 
complete.  In  an  indirect  way,  the  earliest  peoples  may  be 
said  to  have  passed  on  the  elements  of  their  culture;  for, 
while  there  was  a  lapse  in  the  continuity  of  social  develop¬ 
ment,  the  Neolithic  races  that  are  next  met  with  in  Britain 
became  the  inheritors  of  the  culture  of  the  ruder  hunter 
stages  of  society  represented  by  the  river-drift  and  cave 
peoples. 

The  social  grade  of  the  Neolithic  races  was  a  great 
advance  over  that  of  the  peoples  last  considered.  Instead 
of  bands  of  nomadic  wanderers,  we  find  a  pastoral  people 
whose  migrations  were  doubtless  periodical  and  made  only 
in  search  of  new  pastures.  Hunting  did  not  form  an  im¬ 
portant  part  of  their  lives,  for  their  food  was  supplied  by 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


15 


the  flesh  of  domesticated  animals  and  the  cereals  that  they 
raised  for  their  own  needs  and,  in  the  winter  season,  for 
those  of  their  stock. 

Although  caves  continued  to  be  used  to  some  extent  for 
dwellings,  they  were  not  characteristic  of  the  civilization 
of  the  times.  Man  had  become  a  home  builder.  The 
evolution  from  the  cave  dwellings  is  seen  in  the  style  of 
houses  that  were  first  constructed.  They  consisted  of 
pits  dug  to  a  depth  of  seven  to  ten  feet,  and  about  seven 
feet  wide  at  the  base.  These  pits  were  roofed  over  with 
a  sort  of  thatch,  filled  in  with  imperfectly  burnt  clay. 
They  were  built  singly  and  in  groups,  and  were  sometimes 
connected  by  a  system  of  underground  passages.  Access 
was  had  to  these  dwellings  by  a  slanting,  shaftlike  en¬ 
trance.  A  pit  village  was  usually  stockaded  to  protect  it 
against  the  assaults  of  foes.  Outside  it  were  the  arable 
lands  and  the  common  pasture  lands  for  the  sheep  and 
goats;  enclosing  these,  the  forest  stretched  out  in  all 
directions. 

Looking  down  from  one  of  the  surrounding  hilltops  upon 
such  a  village,  it  would  have  presented  to  the  eye  of  the 
observer  the  appearance  of  a  number  of  round  hillocks  but 
little  higher  than  the  ground  level.  Thin  lines  of  smoke, 
slowly  ascending,  would  mark  the  places  where  the  com¬ 
mon  meals  were  in  course  of  preparation.  As  the  traveller 
descended  the  hillside,  his  approach  would  be  challenged 
by  gaunt,  savage  sheep  dogs,  from  whose  attacks  he 
would  need  to  defend  himself.  As  he  passed  out  into  the 
clearing,  he  would  be  confronted  by  the  men,  some  of  them 
tilling  the  soil,  others  acting  as  shepherds  or  swineherds. 
Perhaps  a  field  of  golden  wheat  would  lend  its  beauty  to 
the  scene.  Approaching  the  dwellings,  the  women  would 
be  seen  at  their  several  employments;  some  busy  cutting 
up  the  meat  and  swinging  it  over  the  fires  to  roast,  or 


i6 


WOMAN 


boiling  it  in  pots  with  herbs  and  roots  to  make  a  savory 
stew,  others  mixing  dough  and  spreading  it  upon  flat 
stones  over  hot  embers  to  bake.  Sitting  about  on  the 
rocks  or  squatting  upon  skins  spread  upon  the  ground, 
other  women  would  be  found  busily  making  pottery, 
modelling  the  clay  with  their  hands,  and  scratching  upon 
it  lines,  circles,  and  pyramids  in  various  combinations,  or 
fashioning  designs  by  pressing  reindeer  sinews  into  the 
substance.  Still  others  would  be  discovered  busily  spinning 
and  weaving  flax  and  wool  into  fabrics  for  the  clothing  that 
marked  one  of  the  advances  of  the  Neolithic  people.  In 
the  distance  would  be  heard  the  dull  strokes  of  the  stone 
axes  with  which,  in  the  depth  of  the  wood,  the  men  felled 
the  tall  timber. 

For  the  industries  presented  in  this  picture  of  a  Neo¬ 
lithic  village,  there  were  suitable  implements.  For  all 
domestic  purposes,  the  art  of  pottery  making  had  solved 
the  question  of  satisfactory  vessels.  These  were  gener¬ 
ally  in  two  colors,  either  brown  or  black.  The  potter’s 
wheel  had  not  yet  been  invented,  so  that  the  vessels  lacked 
the  grace  and  uniformity  of  later  work  of  the  sort.  Wheat 
was  ground  by  means  of  a  mortar  and  pestle.  Knives  for 
various  uses,  saws,  and  scrapers  were  all  made  of  highly 
polished  and  very  keen-edged  flint  flakes.  The  great 
superiority  of  their  stone  implements  over  those  of  earlier 
races  has  given  a  name  to  the  people,  but  the  culture  of 
the  Polished  Stone  Age  reveals,  as  its  most  salient  fact, 
not  this,  but  rather  the  domestication  of  animals  and  the 
tilling  of  the  soil.  It  is  significant  to  note  that  these  most 
characteristic  features  of  the  Polished  Stone  Age  denote 
the  advance  of  society  in  the  arts  of  peaceful  living.  War 
was  prevalent  enough,  but  human  development  had  dis¬ 
covered  another  line  of  advancement,  and,  by  reason  of 
the  increased  incentives  to  peaceful  living,  war  was  not 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


17 


usually  undertaken  simply  for  the  pleasure  of  fighting. 
Protection  of  flocks  and  herds,  of  cleared  fields  and  settled 
homes,  became  the  chief  occasion  of  the  wars  waged  by 
the  Neolithic  people. 

In  such  a  society  as  we  have  described,  there  is  a 
community  of  interest  that  tends  to  give  stability  to  the 
ties  of  relationship.  The  fairly  settled  state  of  life  was 
undoubtedly  accompanied  by  a  social  organization  of  some 
sort  that  could  properly  deal  with  the  matters  of  individual 
rights.  The  family  had  become  evolved  from  the  horde; 
promiscuity  had  doubtless  given  place  to  polygamy,  or, 
under  the  exceptional  conditions  of  a  greater  number  of 
men  than  of  women,  to  polyandry.  Neither  of  these 
forms  of  marriage  carried  with  it  the  idea  of  fixity  and  of 
family  responsibility. 

A  feature  of  the  Neolithic  age  was  its  commerce.  By  a 
system  of  intertribal  traffic,  the  simple  commodities  of  the 
widely  dispersed  peoples  of  Europe  became  distributed 
among  the  various  tribes.  By  this  means,  many  articles 
not  of  domestic  manufacture  were  added  to  the  comfort  of 
the  people  of  Britain.  Thus,  the  women  were  enabled  to 
adorn  themselves  with  jade  beads  that  must  have  come 
from  the  region  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  even  with 
gold  ornaments  from  as  distant  points.  These  instances, 
however,  were  exceptional,  and  are  to  be  accounted  for 
in  the  same  manner  that  we  account  for  the  most  unlikely 
things  in  the  possession  of  the  tribes  of  Central  Africa — by 
gradual  hand-to-hand  passage. 

There  was  probably  an  absence  of  religious  ideas  among 
the  predecessors  of  the  Polished  Stone  races;  but  among  the 
remains  of  the  latter  are  ample  proofs  of  the  prevalence 
among  them  of  such  notions.  Caves  that  once  had  served 
them  as  residences  were  later  used  for  places  of  burial, 
the  bodies  being  piled  up  with  earth  until  the  cavities  were 


i8 


WOMAN 


completely  filled.  Accompanying  human  remains  have  been 
found  urns,  supposedly  for  burning  incense,  personal  orna¬ 
ments,  implements,  and  weapons,  placed  there  for  the  use 
of  the  dead.  If  the  people  possessed  religious  conceptions 
that  led  them  to  believe  in  an  after  life,  there  is  no  room 
for  doubt  that  religion  had  a  place  in  the  economy  of  their 
living.  The  women  of  this  time,  then,  could  look  forward 
to  something  better  than  abandonment  to  starvation  after 
they  became  enfeebled  by  age  or  sickness,  and  they  may 
not  have  lacked  religious  associations  in  their  everyday 
life  to  give  to  it  deeper  meaning  and  interest. 

From  the  foregoing  sketch  of  her  life,  it  is  very  clear 
that  the  condition  of  Neolithic  woman,  the  range  of  her 
ideas,  and  the  elements  of  her  comfort,  were  much  in  ad¬ 
vance  of  those  of  the  woman  of  the  Paleolithic  period. 
The  contributions  to  her  existence  were  indeed  elements 
of  civilization,  and  formed  the  basis  for  all  that  the  life  of 
the  sex  has  come  to  be.  In  the  realm  of  institutions,  the 
home  was  beginning  to  have  a  place  and  a  meaning  in 
the  life  of  the  people.  Religion,  also,  had  come  to  widen  the 
horizon  of  life.  Very  crude,  but  real,  elements  of  social 
progress  were  all  these. 

The  succeeding  age — the  Bronze — has  been  credited 
with  working  as  great  a  revolution  in  life  and  giving  it 
as  great  an  impetus  as  did  the  invention  of  gunpowder  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  certainly  a  fact  that  the  invention 
of  this  beautiful  alloy  was  looked  upon  by  the  ancients 
who  lived  close  to  its  age  as  of  incalculable  importance  in 
its  influence  upon  civilization — a  judgment  that  is  confirmed 
by  anyone  who  studies  its  abundant  remains.  Manufac¬ 
tures  and  commerce  were  important  interests  of  the  times: 
smelting  furnaces  and  the  smith’s  shop  turned  out  beau¬ 
tiful  specimens  of  wares  of  all  sorts — shields,  spears,  arrow 
tips,  cups  of  graceful  pattern,  vessels  for  all  purposes, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


19 


ornaments,  and  the  trimmings  for  the  large  boats  made 
necessary  by  a  wide  commerce,  were  all  manufactured  be¬ 
yond  the  needs  of  domestic  consumption.  The  stimulated 
inventiveness  of  the  people  added  many  new  articles  of 
comfort  to  their  lives. 

The  development  of  bronze  was  not  original  with  the 
people  of  Britain,  but  was  introduced  through  an  invasion 
of  bronze-using  people.  For  this  reason,  the  change  made 
in  the  life  of  the  people  was  radical,  instead  of  being,  as  on 
the  continent,  a  gradual  process.  The  struggle  that  ensued 
between  the  bronze  users  and  the  stone  users  was  a 
contest  between  an  advanced  civilization  and  one  of  a 
lower  order;  and  its  issue  was  predetermined.  The  new¬ 
comers  became  the  controlling  element  in  the  country. 
The  tendency  of  the  new  order  of  things  was  toward  in¬ 
dividualism.  Personal  ownership  brought  with  it  social 
grades,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  statements  with 
regard  to  the  bronze  people  that  apply  equally  to  all 
the  race. 

But  we  are  concerned  with  the  conditions  of  the  times 
only  as  the  setting  in  which  we  are  to  study  the  life  of 
woman.  In  the  Bronze  Age,  there  was  introduced  into 
her  life  nothing  to  be  compared  to  the  contributions  made 
thereto  in  the  preceding  age.  While  her  horizon  was 
greatly  broadened,  and  while  she  benefited  by  the  im¬ 
provements  in  living, — better  facilities,  comforts,  and 
even  luxuries, — yet  the  advance  was  along  established 
lines.  We  may  surely  believe  that  closer  intercourse 
with  outside  peoples  brought  a  corresponding  quickening 
of  thought  and  an  appreciation  of  the  merits  of  grades  of 
life  higher  than  her  own.  There  was  no  marked  change 
in  the  style  of  dwellings  of  the  people  of  the  Bronze  Age 
from  those  of  the  Neolithic  period;  but  their  furnishings 
were  better,  and,  instead  of  the  skins  of  wild  animals, 


20 


WOMAN 


those  of  domestic  animals  and,  perhaps,  woven  and  brightly 
dyed  fabrics  now  served  for  couches,  and  were  hung  about 
the  walls  as  a  protection  against  dampness.  The  utensils 
of  the  home  were  varied  and  ornamental,  the  conven¬ 
tional  patterns  having  given  place  to  other,  though  still 
simple,  designs.  In  the  homes  of  the  wealthy,  knives  and 
spoons  and  the  finer  grades  of  vessels  were  of  bronze. 

The  dress  of  the  women  had  now  become  something 
more  than  mere  protection  for  the  body.  The  skins  of 
animals  might  still  suffice  for  the  clothing  of  the  poor,  but 
the  rich  man’s  attire  consisted  of  well-bleached  linens, 
and,  doubtless,  woollen  fabrics  as  well.  The  garments 
made  of  these  materials  were  probably  dyed  in  rich  colors, 
as  the  principles  of  dyeing  were  well  understood.  We  can 
picture,  then,  a  woman  of  the  higher  grade,  dressed  in  a 
tunic,  with  a  mantle  of  contrasting  color,  her  hair  done  up 
in  an  elaborate  coiffure  and  set  off  by  a  cap  of  goat  or 
sheep  skin.  Projecting  from  under  this  would  appear 
bronze  hairpins,  perhaps  twenty  inches  in  length,  of  orna¬ 
mental  design;  indeed,  her  coiffure  was  such  an  elaborate 
affair  that  it  is  quite  likely  that  she  slept  with  it  in  a  head 
rest,  similar  to  those  which  we  know  were  used  by  the 
lake-dwellers  of  Switzerland  and  are  still  used  in  Japan. 
Pendent  from  her  neck  hung  strings  of  beads  and  orna¬ 
ments  made  of  bone,  polished  stone,  bronze,  and  even 
glass  and  gold.  Her  arms  were  weighted  with  bracelets, 
and  her  legs  were  adorned  with  anklets. 

Spinning,  weaving,  the  milking  of  the  goats,  the  making 
of  curd  and  cheese,  the  modelling  of  pottery,  the  prepara¬ 
tion  of  the  meals,  assisting  with  the  outdoor  work,  and  the 
care  of  her  children,  made  up  the  round  of  woman’s  life  in 
those  days.  But  there  was  another  element  that  had 
come  to  be  a  serious  one  in  her  existence,  and  that  was 
religion.  Although  the  form  of  the  prevailing  religious 


THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN 


21 


belief  is  lost,  yet  we  have  evidence  that  it  was  elaborate 
enough  to  call  for  special  places  for  its  observance.  In¬ 
deed,  none  of  the  remains  of  the  Bronze  Age  are  more 
instructive,  or  present  food  for  more  fruitful  speculation  as 
to  the  manner  of  life  or  the  scope  of  mentality  during  that 
era,  than  the  curious  tumuli  that  show  how  closely  asso¬ 
ciated  in  the  common  consciousness  were  religion  and 
death;  for  these  mounds  were  probably  places  both  of 
worship  and  burial.  These  ideas  still  remain  in  such  close 
connection  that  the  vicinity  of  a  church,  and  indeed  the 
edifice  itself,  seems  especially  appropriate  for  the  inter¬ 
ment  of  the  dead  or  for  the  depositing  of  crematory  urns. 
Such  religion  as  existed  must  have  had  its  reflex  influence 
upon  woman’s  life  and  have  entered  into  its  duties;  it  may 
be  that,  as  with  the  later  Druids,  she  assisted  in  the  public 
offices  of  worship. 


1 


► 


■ 

' 


ffifjaptcr  If 

2Fi)f  ®&omen  of  Ancient  Britain 


II 

THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 

FOR  our  survey  of  the  women  of  the  different  and,  to  a 
considerable  degree,  distinct  peoples  of  Britain,  prior  to 
their  being  brought  under  the  influence  of  Roman  culture, 
it  will  be  convenient  to  take  our  stand  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period  of  real  history,  which  for  Britain  may  be  conven¬ 
iently  placed  at  the  first  century  before  Christ.  A  survey 
of  woman  at  that  time  would,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
partake  somewhat  of  the  character  of  a  composite  picture. 
Still,  it  would  include  all  important  particulars,  even  though 
these  might  not,  in  all  cases,  be  accurately  assigned  in 
point  of  time,  or  even  precisely  as  to  race.  So  gradual 
were  the  changes  that  were  wrought  in  woman’s  exist¬ 
ence  during  the  revolution  that  followed  the  introduction 
of  iron  into  the  arts  of  Britain’s  life,  that  it  will  not  be 
difficult  to  speak  with  approximate  accuracy. 

The  data  for  our  picture  of  the  status  and  occupations  of 
the  women  at  the  time  under  consideration  will  need  to  be 
drawn  from  archeological  remains  of  different  dates  and  of 
widely  different  races,  as  well  as  from  the  confused  and 
often  conflicting  or  even  incredible  accounts  of  early  voy¬ 
agers,  to  which  may  be  added  the  vague  allusions  of 
legendary  lore. 

In  considering  the  details  of  the  life  of  woman  during 
the  period  under  consideration,  the  most  salient  fact  is  not 

25 


26 


WOMAN 


the  influx  and  partial  merging  of  different  peoples  resulting 
from  the  intercourse  that  had  been  opened  up  between 
the  Britons  and  the  nations  of  the  continent;  nor  is  it  the 
impulse  to  civilization  brought  about  by  the  use  of  iron 
in  the  manufacture  of  a  multitude  of  articles  of  general 
convenience.  Such  influences  and  agencies  were  potent 
in  society,  working  the  transformation  that  found  its 
expression,  among  other  ways,  in  the  lifting  of  woman 
to  the  plane  of  civilization  that  was  introduced  by  the 
Romans;  but,  undoubtedly,  the  greatest  contributing  factor 
to  the  life  of  the  age,  and  so  the  most  important  one  in 
fixing  the  status  of  woman,  was  the  trade  relations  that 
were  developed  with  Britain  by  the  peoples  of  the  South 
and  the  remote  East:  the  Assyrians,  the  Egyptians,  the 
Etruscans,  the  Greeks,  and,  later,  the  Romans.  To  the 
Phoenicians,  that  nation  of  traders,  must  be  given  the  credit 
of  the  introduction  into  Britain  of  the  higher  products  of 
many  of  those  peoples  whose  civilizations  were  of  an  ad¬ 
vanced  type.  It  was  the  fleets  of  this  enterprising  people 
that  brought  into  Britain  quantities  of  finely  wrought  im¬ 
plements  of  various  sorts:  useful  articles  that  greatly 
increased  the  comfort  of  life,  as  well  as  those  of  ornament 
and  of  dress.  Among  such  imports  were  the  jade  beads 
and  ornaments  which  the  British  women  held  in  especial 
esteem;  beads  of  glass,  delicately  marked  and  colored; 
ornaments  of  gold,  sometimes  inlaid  with  enamel  in  pleas¬ 
ing  designs  and  colors;  fine  fabrics  of  different  sorts;  rings, 
brooches,  necklaces,  armlets,  leg  bands,  and  wares  of 
many  kinds.  Such  things  not  only  added  to  the  comfort 
and  the  sense  of  luxury  of  the  women,  but,  as  object  les¬ 
sons  of  art  and  elegance,  they  were  in  the  highest  degree 
educative.  They  stimulated  woman’s  imagination  and 
piqued  her  interest  in  regard  to  the  women  of  those  far 
distant  lands,  with  whom  such  articles  were  in  ordinary 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL  MASS. 

THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN  27 

use.  We  hear  of  travellers’  tales,  carried  back  by  the 
early  voyagers  to  Britain,  which,  by  their  incredible  color¬ 
ing,  awakened  the  wonder  of  the  Greeks;  but  probably  as 
much  amazement  and  interest  were  aroused  among  the 
Britons  by  the  marvellous  tales,  told  by  the  Phoenicians 
and  other  traders,  concerning  the  nations  among  which 
were  manufactured  the  articles  brought  by  them  to  barter 
for  the  metals,  furs,  woods,  and  other  products  of  Britain. 
In  this  way,  a  distorted  knowledge  of  the  outside  world 
and  of  the  accomplishments  of  highly  civilized  peoples 
came  to  be  widely  diffused  among  the  more  advanced  of 
the  rude  inhabitants  of  Britain.  The  arrival  of  a  ship  in 
port  was  an  event  of  absorbing  interest;  soon  the  women 
of  the  coast  settlements  would  be  seen  busily  traversing 
the  narrow,  winding  paths  by  which  the  houses  of  a  vil¬ 
lage  were  connected,  to  gossip  with  their  neighbors  about 
the  latest  bit  of  wonderful  narrative  picked  up  from  the 
oddly  garbed  foreign  sailors  concerning  the  mighty  nations 
of  the  remote  parts  of  the  earth,  or  to  display  some  pur¬ 
chase — a  piece  of  cloth  of  fine  web  or  of  bright  colors,  a 
chased  fibula,  a  string  of  beads,  or  articles  of  like  nature. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  effect  upon  the 
mentality  and  the  life  interest  of  the  simple-minded  yet 
keenly  inquiring  British  women  of  the  commerce  which, 
at  first  occasional,  gradually  became  regular  and  expand¬ 
ing,  and  by  which  Britain  was  brought  out  of  its  insular 
separateness  into  the  broad  current  of  the  world’s  progress. 

The  population  of  Britain  was  large — as  the  Romans 
found  when  they  came  into  the  country.  The  people 
were  collected  into  villages  and  towns  which  were  ruled  by 
chieftains  who  were  frequently  at  war  with  one  another. 
During  such  strife  their  women  were  hidden  in  caves  or 
pits  covered  with  brush;  this  was  a  necessary  protective 
measure,  for  the  loss  of  its  women  was  the  severest  blow 


28 


WOMAN 


a  people  could  suffer.  This  division  of  the  tribes  into 
little  warring  factions  was  the  cause  of  the  country  falling 
readily  a  prey  to  the  Romans. 

When  we  consider  that  the  writers  of  the  time  had  in 
view  different  elements  of  the  population,  it  is  less  difficult 
to  harmonize  their  conflicting  statements.  While  there 
are  contrary  statements  made  as  to  the  agriculture  of  the 
Romans,  it  seems  to  be  a  satisfactory  reconciliation  of 
these  statements  to  regard  the  less  progressive  northern 
tribes  as  purely  pastoral  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  other 
parts  of  the  island  as  agriculturalists  as  well  as  herdsmen. 
After  the  Romans  became  established,  wheat  came  to  be 
one  of  the  chief  articles  of  export.  The  producers  har¬ 
vested  this  grain  by  cutting  off  the  heads  and  storing 
them  in  pits  under  the  ground.  These  pits  were  protected 
against  frost.  Each  day  the  farmers  took  out  the  wheat 
longest  stored,  and  ground  it  into  meal.  The  process  of 
removing  the  grain  from  the  cob  was,  according  to  what 
we  know  of  it,  similar  to  the  method  still  in  use  down  to 
the  seventeenth  century  in  some  parts  of  Britain.  This 
consisted  of  twirling  in  the  fire  several  heads  of  wheat, 
which  the  woman  performing  the  operation  held  in  her  left 
hand,  while  with  a  stick  held  in  her  right  hand  she  beat 
off  the  loosened  grain  at  the  very  instant  that  the  chaff 
was  consumed.  The  grain  was  then  usually  ground  in  a 
hand  mill,  although  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  water 
mills  also  were  used  to  some  extent.  The  meal  was  then 
mixed,  and  baked  over  the  fire  in  little  loaves,  or  flat  cakes. 
The  whole  process  occupied  but  a  couple  of  hours. 

The  houses  of  the  people,  to  which  the  women  were 
confined  the  greater  part  of  the  winter,  were  mean  little 
structures.  They  were  circular  in  shape,  and  were  made 
of  wattles  or  wood,  and  sometimes  of  stone.  These 
wigwam-like  structures  were  roofed  with  straw,  and  had 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 


29 


as  their  sole  external  decoration  the  trophies  of  the  chase 
and  the  battlefield.  A  chief’s  house  was  triumphantly 
adorned  with  the  skulls  of  his  enemies,  nailed  up  against 
the  eaves  of  the  porch,  among  the  horns  and  bones  of 
beasts.  Sometimes  the  heads  of  foes  slain  in  battle  were 
embalmed,  and  furnished  gruesome  ornamentation  for  the 
interior  of  the  house.  But  notwithstanding  these  testi¬ 
monials  of  a  savage  nature,  there  were  evidences  of  com¬ 
fort  that  had  in  them  the  indication  of  an  approach  to 
civilization.  The  houses  were  connected  by  narrow,  tort¬ 
uous  paths,  and  were  usually  surrounded  by  a  stockade 
as  a  protection  against  assault. 

The  dress  of  the  women  differed  according  to  the  wealth 
and  the  civilization  of  the  various  sections  of  the  popula¬ 
tion.  The  tribes  of  the  east  and  southeast,  who  were 
principally  Celts,  were  the  more  civilized,  while  the  Cale¬ 
donians  of  the  north — the  Piets,  or  painted  men,  as  they 
were  commonly  called — were  far  less  advanced.  The 
women  of  the  Celts  were  of  great  personal  attractiveness. 
They  possessed  a  wealth  of  magnificent  hair,  were  fair- 
complexioned  and  of  splendid  physique.  To  these  graces 
of  person  they  added  fierce  tempers;  we  are  told  that 
when  the  husband  of  one  of  them  engaged  in  an  alterca¬ 
tion  with  a  stranger,  his  wife  would  join  strenuously 
in  the  controversy,  and  with  her  powerful  “snow-white” 
arms,  and  her  feet  as  well,  deliver  blows  “with  the 
force  of  a  catapult.”  These  vigorous  British  women  were 
vain  of  their  appearance  and  gay  in  their  dress.  Their 
costume  consisted  of  a  sleeved  blouse,  which  was  ordi¬ 
narily  confined  at  the  waist;  this  garment  partly  covered 
trousers,  worn  long  and  clasped  at  the  ankles.  A  plaid  of 
bright  colors  was  fastened  at  the  shoulders  with  a  brooch. 
They  wore  nothing  on  their  heads,  but  displayed  their 
hair  fastened  in  a  graceful  knot  at  the  neck. 


30 


WOMAN 


They  wove  thin  stuffs  for  summer  wear,  and  felted 
heavy  druggets  for  winter;  the  latter  were  said  to  be  pre¬ 
pared  with  vinegar,  and  “were  so  tough  that  they  would 
turn  the  stroke  of  a  sword.”  Some  of  their  clothes  are 
described  as  “woven  of  gaudy  colors  and  making  a  show.” 
They  were  versed  in  the  art  of  using  alternate  colors  in 
the  warp  and  woof  so  as  to  bring  out  the  pattern  of  stripes 
and  squares.  Diodorus  says  of  some  of  their  patterns 
that  the  cloth  was  covered  with  an  infinfte  number  of  little 
squares  and  lines,  “as  if  it  had  been  sprinkled  with 
flowers,”  or  was  striped  with  cross  bars,  giving  a  checkered 
effect.  The  colors  most  in  vogue  were  red  and  crimson; 
“such  honest  colors,”  says  the  Roman  writer,  “as  a  per¬ 
son  had  no  cause  to  blame,  nor  the  world  a  reason  to  cry 
out  upon.”  Such  were  the  fabrics  with  which  the  more 
civilized  of  the  British  women  arrayed  themselves,  and  the 
workmanship  of  which  speaks  volumes  for  their  makers’ 
industry  and  skill.  The  women  were  inordinately  fond  of 
ornaments,  and  had  a  plentiful  supply  from  which  to 
select.  Their  attire  was  not  complete  unless  it  included 
necklaces,  bracelets,  strings  of  bright  beads, — made  of  glass 
or  a  substance  resembling  Egyptian  porcelain, — and  that 
which  was  regarded  as  the  crowning  ornament  of  every 
woman  of  wealth — a  torque  of  gold,  or  else  a  collar  of  the 
same  metal.  A  ring  was  at  first  worn  on  the  middle  finger, 
but  later  it  alone  was  left  bare,  all  the  other  fingers  being 
loaded  with  rings. 

Among  the  more  primitive  of  the  peoples  of  Britain, 
skins  continued  to  be  worn,  if,  as  among  the  Piets,  cloth¬ 
ing  were  not  dispensed  with  altogether.  The  women  of 
these  fierce  tribes  were  too  proud  of  the  intricate  devices 
in  brilliant  colors  with  which  their  bodies  were  tattooed  to 
hide  them  in  any  way.  These,  so  Professor  Elton  is  in¬ 
clined  to  think,  were  the  people  who  introduced  bronze 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 


31 


into  Britain.  They  made  continual  and  fierce  attacks 
on  their  Celtic  neighbors  and  carried  off  their  women  into 
captivity.  And  it  was  because  of  these  attacks  that  the 
Anglo-Saxons  were  invited  into  Britain  to  champion  the 
cause  of  the  people,  after  the  departure  of  the  Romans  had 
left  the  Britons  to  their  own  resources. 

A  period  of  peculiar  interest  and  uncertainty  was  that 
of  the  Roman  occupancy  of  the  country,  with  its  veneer  of 
civilization  and  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  all  of 
which  was  apparently  swept  aside  by  the  conquering  hordes 
of  Teutons  who  came  into  Briton  and  laid  the  foundations 
for  the  English  nation.  It  was  a  time  of  great  changes  in 
the  standards  of  life  and  tastes,  as  well  as  of  the  morals 
of  the  British  women.  With  the  Romans  came  their  in¬ 
evitable  arts  of  conciliation  after  conquest.  Then  fol¬ 
lowed  the  period  of  generous  grants  of  public  works — the 
baths,  the  theatres,  the  arena;  then  the  Roman  villa  super¬ 
seded  the  huts  of  the  inhabitants.  All  was  created  under 
the  rngis  of  the  great  mistress  of  the  nations,  and  included 
strong  fortifications.  Civilization  was  advanced,  but  man¬ 
liness  was  degraded.  Effeminacy  reduced  the  sturdy 
morals  of  the  Briton  to  the  plane  of  those  of  their  con¬ 
querors.  The  abominable  usage  of  the  women  finds  ex¬ 
pression  in  the  bitter  cry  that  the  poet  ascribes  to  the 
noble  British  queen,  Boadicea:  “Me  they  seized  and  they 
tortured,  me  they  lashed  and  humiliated,  me  the  sport  of 
ribald  veterans,  mine  of  ruffian  violators. ” 

It  is  not  a  part  of  our  work  to  even  sketch  the  course  of 
the  Roman  invasion  in  its  path  of  blood  and  fire  across  the 
face  of  Britain,  or  the  stubborn  and  sturdy  opposition  of 
the  natives,  the  subjugation  and  the  revolt  of  tribes — 
notably  the  Icenii,who  cost  the  Romans  seventy  thousand 
slain  and  the  destruction  of  three  cities,  but  whose  final 
conquest  broke  the  backbone  of  opposition  to  the  Roman 


32 


WOMAN 


arms.  All  this  is  political  history,  and  cannot  concern  us 
excepting  in  the  immense  effect  it  had  upon  the  women  of 
the  land.  It  was  they  who  bore  the  brunt  of  suffering, 
degradation,  and,  too  frequently,  slavery  and  deportation 
customary  incidents  of  the  fierce  spirit  of  the  Roman  con 
quests.  But  in  spite  of  the  miseries  their  coming  entailed 
upon  the  people,  the  Roman  rule  had  an  admirable  effect 
upon  the  country  in  promoting  peace,  in  establishing  re¬ 
gard  for  law,  and  in  stimulating  commerce.  After  they 
had  become  accustomed  to  the  Roman  method  of  legal 
procedure  in  the  settlement  of  differences,  the  Britons 
were  no  longer  ready  to  fly  at  one  another’s  throat  on  the 
least  provocation.  The  breaking  up  of  their  tribal  distinc¬ 
tions  led  to  a  greater  consolidation  of  the  people  and  re¬ 
moved  a  cause  of  strife.  But  as  the  descendants  of  the 
defenders  of  Britain’s  liberties  grew  up  amid  Roman  con¬ 
ditions  of  life  that  had  permeated  the  whole  population  as 
far  as  the  northern  highlands,  where  the  people  proved  in¬ 
vincible  to  the  Roman  arms,  the  habit  of  dependence  upon 
the  Roman  legions  for  protection  enervated  the  people  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  could  interpose  but  faint  resist¬ 
ance  to  the  next  invaders  of  the  country — the  conquering 
Angles,  Jutes,  and  Saxons. 

It  is  amid  conditions  of  Roman  conquest  and  control  that 
we  are  now  to  consider  more  in  detail  the  status  of  the 
British  woman.  Scattered  along  the  borders  of  the  woods, 
between  the  pasture  lands  and  the  hunting  lands,  could  be 
found  the  homesteads  of  the  Britons,  before  the  rise  of  the 
Roman  city.  Each  of  these  edifices  was  large  enough  to 
hold  the  entire  family  in  its  single  room.  They  were  built, 
generally,  of  hewn  logs,  set  in  a  row  on  end  and  covered 
with  rushes  or  turf.  The  family  fire  burned  in  the  middle 
~  of  the  room,  and,  circling  it,  sat  the  members  of  the  house¬ 
hold  at  their  meals.  The  same  raised  seat  of  rushes 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN  33 

served  them  at  night  for  a  couch.  Under  the  prevailing 
tribal  custom,  three  families,  or  rather  three  generations 
of  the  same  family,  from  grandfather  to  grandson,  occu¬ 
pied  each  dwelling.  After  the  third  generation  the  family 
was  broken  up,  though  all  the  members  of  it  retained  the 
memory  of  their  common  descent.  It  is  not  clear  whether 
or  not  a  strictly  monogamous  household  was  the  type  of 
family  life.  Certainly  it  is  probable  that  such  was  not 
the  case  among  the  backward  races  of  the  interior.  As  to 
the  advanced  sections  of  the  population,  against  the  state¬ 
ment  of  contemporary  observers  that  it  was  the  practice 
of  the  British  women  to  have  a  plurality  of  husbands, 
there  is  only  the  argument  of  improbability  to  be  urged. 
The  custom  of  several  families  living  under  the  one  roof 
and  in  the  same  room  may  have  led  the  Romans  into  an 
erroneous  conclusion. 

Little  is  known  as  to  the  laws  of  the  Britons  in  regard 
to  the  regulation  of  family.  In  the  matter  of  divorce,  if 
the  couple  had  several  children,  the  husband  took  the 
eldest  and  the  youngest,  and  the  wife  the  middle  ones, 
although  the  merits  of  such  a  peculiar  division  do  not 
appear.  It  would  seem  as  if  in  the  case  of  the  youngest 
child,  at  least,  the  mother  was  the  proper  custodian,  or  at 
any  rate  the  natural  one.  The  pigs  went  to  the  man,  and 
the  sheep  to  the  woman;  the  wife  took  the  milk  vessels, 
and  the  man  the  mead-brewing  machinery.  This  was  at 
'  variance  with  the  later  custom  of  England,  for  well  on 
through  the  Middle  Ages,  both  as  a  family  employment 
and  a  public  industry,  brewing  was  accounted  woman’s 
occupation.  To  the  husband  went  also  the  table  and 
ware.  He  took  the  larger  sieve,  she  the  smaller;  he  the 
upper,  and  she  the  lower  millstone  of  the  corn  mill.  The 
under  bedding  was  his,  and  the  upper  hers.  He  received 
the  unground  corn,  she  the  meal.  The  ducks,  the  geese, 


d 


34 


WOMAN 


and  the  cats  were  her  portion,  while  to  his  share  fell  the 
hens  and  one  mouser. 

The  slight  estimation  in  which  women  were  held  as 
compared  with  the  value  put  upon  men  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  a  woman  was  legally  rated  at  half  the  worth  of 
her  brother  and  one-third  that  of  her  husband.  If  a  woman 
engaged  in  a  quarrel,  she  was  fined  a  specific  sum  for  each 
finger  with  which  she  fought  and  for  each  hair  she  pulled 
from  her  adversary’s  head. 

Among  the  customs  in  which  women  were  concerned, 
those  relating  to  marriage  show  that  the  assumption  of 
family  responsibility  was  regarded  as  a  permanent  rela¬ 
tion,  and  their  nature  does  not  agree  with  Caesar’s  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  loose  ties  of  matrimony  among  the  Britons.  It 
is  entirely  unlikely  that  the  wives  of  the  men  were  held 
by  them  in  common.  As  has  been  already  stated,  such 
group  marriages,  if  they  existed,  were  localized  among  the 
rudest  of  the  races  of  the  country,  whose  general  civiliza¬ 
tion  had  not  elevated  them  to  the  point  of  appreciation  of 
pure  family  life.  Such,  perhaps,  were  the  small  dark 
races  descended  from  the  Neolithic  tribes  and  held  in  little 
esteem  by  the  Celts.  Among  the  Celts  it  was  customary 
for  the  father  of  a  bride  to  make  a  present  of  his  own  arms 
to  his  son-in-law.  As  will  be  seen  later  by  a  description 
of  one  of  their  dinners,  the  Celts  preferred  feasting  to  all 
other  occupations,  and  their  festivities  were  accompanied 
by  the  utmost  conviviality.  A  wedding  was  an  occasion 
for  the  most  extravagant  feasting,  all  the  relatives  of  the 
contracting  parties,  to  the  third  degree  of  kindred,  assem¬ 
bling  to  eat  and  drink  to  the  happiness  of  the  newly 
wedded  pair.  The  ceremony  took  place  at  the  house  of 
the  bridegroom,  and  the  bride  was  conducted  thither  by 
her  friends.  If  the  parties  were  rich,  the  pair  made  pres¬ 
ents  to  their  friends  at  the  marriage  festival;  but  if  they 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 


35 


were  poor,  the  reverse  was  the  case,  and  presents  were 
made  to  them  by  the  guests.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
feast,  the  bride  and  bridegroom  were  conducted  to  their 
chamber  by  the  whole  company,  with  great  merriment 
and  amid  music  and  dancing.  The  next  morning,  before 
rising,  it  was  the  rule  for  the  husband  to  make  his  wife 
a  present  of  considerable  value,  according  to  his  cir¬ 
cumstances.  This  was  regarded  as  the  wife’s  peculiar 
property. 

The  wives  of  the  ancient  Britons  had  not  only  the  usual 
domestic  duties  to  perform,  but  much  of  the  outside  work 
as  well.  Being  of  robust  constitution,  leading  lives  of 
simplicity  and  naturalness,  maternity  interfered  but  little 
with  the  round  of  their  duties.  The  period  was  not  wholly 
without  its  anxieties,  however,  as  is  shown  by  the  custom 
among  British  women  of  wearing  a  girdle  that  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  conducive  to  the  birth  of  heroes.  The  assump¬ 
tion  of  these  girdles  was  a  ceremony  accompanied  with 
mystical  rites,  and  was  a  part  of  the  Druidical  ritual.  The 
newborn  babe  was  plunged  into  some  lake  or  river  in  order 
to  harden  it,  and  as  a  test  of  its  constitution;  this  was  done 
even  in  the  winter  season.  The  early  British  mother 
always  nursed  her  children  herself,  nor  would  she  have 
thought  of  delegating  this  duty  to  another.  The  first 
morsel  of  food  put  into  a  male  infant’s  mouth  was  on  the 
tip  of  the  father’s  sword,  that  the  child  might  grow  up  to 
be  a  great  warrior.  As  is  frequently  the  case  with  primi¬ 
tive  peoples,  the  Britons  did  not  give  names  to  their  chil¬ 
dren  until  the  latter  had  performed  some  feat  or  displayed 
some  characteristic  which  might  suggest  for  them  a  suitable 
name.  It  follows  from  this  that  all  the  names  of  the  ancient 
Britons  that  have  been  preserved  to  us  are  significant. 
The  youth  were  not  delicately  nurtured,  and  after  passing 
through  the  perils  of  childhood,  when  the  care  of  a  mother 


36 


WOMAN 


was  imperative,  it  is  probable  that  the  mother  had  little  to 
do  with  the  training  of  her  boy.  Accustomed  almost  from 
infancy  to  the  use  of  arms,  as  he  grew  older  the  boy  added 
to  his  training  athletic  ordeals  and  feats  of  daring.  Among 
the  games  to  which  he  was  accustomed  was  jumping 
through  swords  so  placed  that  it  was  extremely  difficult  to 
leap  quickly  through  them  without  being  impaled.  Youth 
was  democratic,  and,  without  any  distinction,  the  children 
of  the  noble  and  the  lowly,  equally  sordid  and  ill  clad, 
played  about  on  the  floor  or  in  the  open  field. 

The  Britons  were  noted  for  the  warmth  of  their  family 
affection.  The  mother  was  sure  of  the  dutiful  regard  of 
her  children  and  did  not  lack  affectionate  consideration 
from  her  husband.  The  aged  were  treated  with  a  rever¬ 
ence  in  striking  contrast  to  the  heartlessness  with  which 
in  earlier  times  the  old  were  deserted  to  die  or  were  put 
to  death — a  custom  not  unusual  among  primitive  peoples. 
It  is  pleasant  to  think  of  the  British  matron  inculcating 
into  the  minds  of  her  children  respect  for  age  and  the 
claims  of  relationship. 

The  law  of  hospitality  was  sacred  to  the  ancient  Briton. 
When  a  stranger  sought  entertainment  at  the  home  of  one 
of  them,  no  questions  were  asked  as  to  his  identity  or  his 
business,  until  after  the  meal.  Indeed,  it  was  frequently 
the  case  that  such  arrivals  were  made  the  excuse  for  a 
great  feast,  to  which  a  number  of  friends  were  invited. 
The  women  soon  had  the  preparation  under  way,  and  in 
due  time  the  meat  was  roasting  at  the  spit  and  the  pot 
swinging  on  the  crane  over  a  roaring  fire.  While  the 
mothers  were  employed  in  these  occupations  and  in  mak¬ 
ing  bread,  their  daughters  poured  the  fresh  milk  into  the 
pitchers  and  filled  the  metal  beakers  and  earthen  jugs 
with  home-brewed  beer  and  mead.  While  the  men  ex¬ 
changed  stories  of  their  hunting  exploits  and  deeds  of  valor 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 


37 


in  battle,  the  women  carried  on  a  constant  buzz  of  sup¬ 
pressed  speculation  and  remark  concerning  the  guests. 
When  the  meal  was  ready,  the  women  set  it  before  the 
men  upon  fresh  grass  or  rushes.  The  bread  was  served 
in  wicker  baskets.  The  guests  and  their  hosts  seated 
themselves  upon  a  carpet  of  rushes,  or  upon  dog  or  wolf 
skins  placed  near  the  open  fireplace.  While  the  men  vora¬ 
ciously  seized  the  steaming  joints  and  carved  from  them 
long  slices  of  meat,  which  they  ate  “after  the  fashion 
of  lions,”  the  women  plied  them  with  the  beakers  of 
foaming  beverage,  and  the  bards  sang,  to  the  music  of 
harps,  the  boastful  exploits  of  some  local  chieftain.  It 
was  a  strange  thing  if  the  feast  and  conviviality  did  not 
end  in  a  fight  over  some  question  of  precedence  or  dis¬ 
puted  statement.  When  such  a  combat  did  occur,  it 
was  usually  a  contest  to  the  death.  Nor  were  the  fierce- 
tempered  women  passive  during  such  encounters,  but, 
as  we  have  seen,  were  ready  to  aid  the  men  of  their 
family  with  frenzied  attack.  Such  a  feast  as  we  have 
described  presented  a  weird  and  picturesque  sight  under 
the  flaming  light  of  the  torches  made  of  rushes  soaked 
in  tallow. 

One  of  the  favorite  domestic  employments  of  the  British 
women,  though  one  which  we  may  imagine  fell  largely  to 
the  lot  of  the  younger  women  and  the  girls,  was  the 
making  of  the  wickerware  for  which  the  ancient  Britons 
were  famous.  Baskets,  platters,  the  bodies  of  chariots, 
the  frames  of  boats,  and  even  the  framework  of  the  houses, 
were  made  of  this  light  and  serviceable  material.  Withes 
peeled  and  woven  by  the  supple  fingers  of  the  young 
British  women  into  fancy  baskets  found  a  ready  market 
at  Rome,  and  commanded  high  prices,  being  generally 
esteemed  as  a  rare  work  of  ingenious  art.  During  the 
hours  required  to  weave  an  article  of  this  sort,  the  women 


38 


WOMAN 


would  fall  into  a  responsive  song,  picked  up  perhaps  from 
some  passing  minstrel. 

Weaving,  spinning,  dyeing  the  fabrics  thus  made;  the 
milking  of  the  cattle,  the  grinding  of  the  meal;  the  making 
of  the  garments  for  the  family;  the  manufacture  of  pottery, 
to  which  may  be  added  a  Share  of  the  outdoor  work,  were 
some  of  the  matters  which  made  the  life  of  the  British 
woman  far  from  an  idle  one.  And  yet,  with  it  all,  the 
young  women  found  leisure  to  tarry  at  the  spring  for  the 
exchange  of  laughing  remarks,  as  they  dropped  something 
into  its  clear  depth — as  an  offering  to  the  divinity  who 
they  fully  believed  resided  therein  and  who  held  in  keep¬ 
ing  their  future  and  their  fortunes — before  they  drew  from 
it  the  water  for  the  bleaching  of  the  linen  that  they  had 
already  spread  out  in  the  sun. 

The  religion  of  the  Britons,  before  the  introduction  of 
Christianity,  was  an  elaborate  system  of  superstitions 
and  of  nature  worship.  It  was  in  the  hands  of  a  priestly 
order — the  Druids.  A  mother  was  glad  to  resign  her  boy 
to  the  training  of  this  mystical  brotherhood,  if  he  showed 
sufficient  talent  to  warrant  his  reception  therein.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  describe  particularly  the  system.  It  was 
made  up  of  three  orders,  the  Druids  proper,  the  Bards, 
and  the  Ovates.  Over  the  whole  order  was  an  Archdruid, 
who  was  elected  for  life.  An  order  of  Druidesses,  also, 
is  supposed  to  have  existed.  When  Suetonius  Paulinus 
landed  at  Anglesey  in  pursuit  of  the  Druids  (A.D.  56), 
women  with  hair  streaming  down  their  backs,  dressed  in 
black  robes  and  with  flaring  torches  in  their  hands,  rushed 
up  and  down  the  heights,  invoking  curses  on  the  invaders 
of  their  sacred  precincts,  greatly  to  the  terror  of  the  super¬ 
stitious  Roman  soldiery. 

At  some  of  their  sacred  rites  the  women  appeared  naked, 
with  their  skin  dyed  a  dark  hue  with  vegetable  stain.  It 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 


39 


was  the  custom  of  the  Druids,  who  had  the  oversight  of 
public  morals,  to  offer,  as  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  thieves, 
murderers,  and  other  criminals,  whom  they  condemned 
to  be  burned  alive.  Wickerwork  receptacles,  sometimes 
made  in  the  form  of  images,  were  filled  with  the  miserable 
wretches,  and  were  then  placed  upon  the  pyre  and  con¬ 
sumed.  The  prophetic  women,  standing  by,  made  divina¬ 
tions  from  the  sinews,  the  flowing  blood,  or  the  quivering 
flesh  of  the  victims.  The  defeat  of  the  Druids  and  the 
felling  of  their  sacred  groves  by  the  Romans  gave  the 
death  blow  to  the  system,  which  under  the  influence  of 
Christianity  completely  disappeared. 

The  diffusion  of  Roman  civilization  colored  the  beliefs  of 
the  British  women.  The  destruction  of  the  native  shrines 
whither  they  used  to  resort  to  make  a  propitiatory  offering 
or  to  draw  divinations  for  direction  in  some  matter  of 
personal  or  domestic  concern,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
fanes  of  Rome,  which  abounded  throughout  the  country  to 
the  limits  of  the  Roman  conquest,  converted  the  local 
deities  into  Roman  divinities.  Under  new  names,  the  old 
gods  of  the  woods  and  streams  continued  to  receive  the 
homage  of  the  Romanized  British  matrons  and  maidens. 

But  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity  and  its  exten¬ 
sion  even  into  parts  of  the  country  where  the  sword  of 
Rome  had  failed  to  penetrate,  there  was  a  more  radical 
change  wrought  in  the  life  of  women.  They  have  always 
instinctively  recognized  the  fact  that  the  Christian  religion 
is  their  champion,  and  in  its  consolation  the  women  of  the 
Britons  found  much  to  alleviate  their  common  distress  and 
to  elevate  their  status.  In  the  trying  hours  that  came 
with  the  inroads  of  the  fierce  and  barbarous  Teutons, 
when  they  were  carried  off  by  the  savage  Piets  to  a  base 
servitude,  and  when,  after  the  reassertion  of  the  Christian 
religion  among  the  English,  the  coming  of  the  Danes  next 


40 


WOMAN 


brought  a  fresh  abasement  for  their  sex,  the  Christian  faith 
was  the  sustaining  and  the  reconstructive  force  of  the  lives 
of  the  women  of  the  country.  With  the  advance  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  passed  the  customs  of  pagan  burial.  The  dead 
were  no  longer  cremated,  nor  were  they  buried  in  the 
tumuli  with  the  objects  of  their  customary  association 
interred  with  them  to  be  of  service  in  the  spirit  world. 

One  of  the  most  apparent  results  of  the  Roman  con¬ 
quest,  in  its  relation  to  the  domestic  life  of  the  people, 
was  the  supersedence  of  the  rude  British  dwellings  by  the 
Roman  villa.  This  open  style  of  house,  suited  to  the  sunny 
skies  of  Italy,  had  to  undergo  modifications  to  adapt  it  to 
the  more  rigorous  clime  of  Britain.  About  an  open  court, 
which  was  either  paved  or  planted  in  flower  beds,  the 
rooms  were  arranged,  all  of  them  opening  inwardly,  and 
some  of  them  having  an  entrance  to  the  outside  as  well. 
These  connected  rooms  were  usually  one  story  high,  with 
perhaps  an  additional  story  in  the  rear.  The  windows 
were  iron-barred.  The  front  of  the  villa  was  adorned  with 
stucco  and  gaudily  painted.  In  the  homes  of  the  wealthy, 
the  inner  court  became  an  elaborately  pillared  banquet 
hall,  with  tessellated  work  in  fine  marble  and  with  the 
pavement  figured  in  symbolical  devices.  In  it  were  placed 
the  family  shrines  and  statuary.  Or  else  it  was  fitted  up 
with  the  baths  which  were  such  a  feature  of  Roman  life. 
In  later  times,  the  walls  blossomed  out  into  decorations  of 
mythological  subjects:  the  foam-born  Aphrodite,  Bacchus 
and  his  panther  steeds,  Orpheus  holding  his  dumb  audi¬ 
ence  enthralled  by  his  melody,  Narcissus  at  the  fountain, 
or  the  loves  of  Cupid  and  Psyche. 

The  heating  arrangements  of  these  houses  were  ample 
and  convenient,  and  the  edifices  themselves  were  fre¬ 
quently  added  to  by  succeeding  generations.  In  the 
country  districts,  the  houses  were  provided  with  large 


THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN 


41 


storerooms,  plentifully  supplied  with  provisions,  and  were 
garrisoned  against  the  attack  of  enemies.  The  best  of  these 
Roman-British  houses  were  imposing  structures  of  vast 
dimensions.  The  women,  when  surrounded  by  the  luxu¬ 
ries  of  Roman  life,  gave  themselves  over  to  pleasure  and 
frequented  the  theatres  and  the  public  baths,  and  enter¬ 
tained  in  lavish  style.  They  generally  adopted  the  graceful 
Roman  dress,  and  thus  cleared  themselves  of  the  charge 
of  loudness,  extravagance,  and  meanness  of  attire  that  the 
earlier  Roman  writers  brought  against  them.  After  the  in¬ 
troduction  of  Christianity,  when  Roman  civilization  had  be¬ 
come  completely  domesticated,  it  was  no  unusual  thing  for 
a  Roman  to  have  a  British  wife,  or  for  British  matrons  to 
be  found  on  the  streets  of  Rome  itself.  The  morals  of  the 
people  were  not  proof  against  the  contamination  of  Roman 
standards.  The  women,  who  were  brought  into  closest 
touch  with  the  Roman  populace,  imbibed  their  views  and 
followed  their  example.  Yet  among  the  people  who  lived 
the  simpler  life  of  the  country  districts,  and  to  whom 
Christianity  most  forcibly  appealed,  the  standards  of  their 
race  were  largely  maintained.  The  manner  of  life  of  the 
women  of  the  wild  northern  tribes  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
unaffected  by  the  Roman  occupancy  of  the  country.  Find¬ 
ing  themselves  unable  to  conquer  these  fierce  people,  the 
Romans,  for  their  own  security,  had  stretched  across  the 
country  a  great  wall  to  facilitate  defence;  but  they  had 
soon  to  protect  their  coasts  from  other  warlike  races,  who, 
first  in  piratical  bands  and  then  as  migrating  nations, 
brought  terror  and  annihilation  to  the  native  Britons. 


(SMjaptet  CM 

2T i)E  ®2Eonteu  of  tijc  £nglo=£<a.vons 


Ill 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 

TO  attempt  a  portrayal  of  the  miseries  entailed  upon 
the  women  of  the  Britons  by  the  forays  of  the  barbarians, 
which  followed  the  withdrawal  of  the  Romans  from  the 
country,  would  be  to  rehearse  the  distresses  which  were 
but  usual  to  warfare  at  that  period  of  the  world’s  history. 
We  can  pass  over  the  savagery  of  human  passions,  in¬ 
flamed  by  the  heat  of  strife,  and  come  to  the  more  con¬ 
genial  and,  indeed,  the  only  important  task  of  considering 
the  life  of  woman,  not  under  the  exceptional  conditions  of 
war,  but  in  the  normal  state  of  existence.  Even  during 
the  Roman  occupancy  of  the  country,  the  British  women 
had  experienced  the  terrors  of  the  barbarians.  In  spite  of 
the  massive  wall,  the  lines  of  forts,  and  the  system  of 
trenches,  by  which  that  military  people  had  sought  to 
arrest  the  inroads  of  the  Piets  and  Scots,  those  uncon¬ 
quered  tribes  of  the  north  often  swept  with  resistless  force 
far  into  the  peaceful  provinces,  bringing  desolation  into 
many  homes  and  carrying  off  the  women,  to  dispose  of 
them  in  the  slave  markets  of  the  continent. 

More  terrible  still  had  been  the  descent  upon  the  British 
coasts  of  the  piratical  Saxon  rovers,  whose  frequent  incur¬ 
sions  had  given  to  those  tracts  that  were  open  to  their 
attacks  the  significant  appellation  of  the  “Saxon  shore.” 
In  spite  of  the  measures  of  the  Romans  against  these 

45 


46 


WOMAN 


marauding  bands  from  over  the  seas,  they  were  a  source 
of  continual  terror,  especially  to  the  women  of  the  coast 
settlements,  to  whom  their  name  was  a  synonym  of  all 
those  distresses  which  forcible  capture  and  enslavement 
imply. 

When  the  Roman  forces  withdrew,  a  danger  that  had 
been  occasional  and  limited  to  localities  now  became  a 
menace  to  the  whole  people.  The  invasions  of  the  Piets 
and  Scots  became  so  frequent,  and  their  ravages  so 
dreadful,  that  the  Britons,  who  for  generations  had  been 
dependent  upon  the  arms  of  the  Romans  for  protection, 
felt  unable  to  cope  alone  with  the  situation  that  faced 
them.  In  their  extremity  they  hit  upon  the  expedient  of 
pitting  barbarian  against  barbarian,  hoping  thus  to  gain 
peace  from  the  northern  terror,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
rid  themselves  of  the  menace  of  the  pirates.  To  this  end 
the  astute  sea  rovers  were  engaged  to  discipline  the  north¬ 
ern  hordes.  But  when  these  “men  without  a  country” 
had  fulfilled  their  obligation,  they  preferred  to  remain  in 
the  fertile  and  attractive  island  rather  than  return  to  their 
own  vast  forest  stretches  and  there  seek  to  combat  the 
pressure  that  had  set  in  motion  the  Germanic  peoples. 

In  this  way  began,  in  the  fifth  century,  the  conquest  of 
Britain  by  the  Angles,  the  Jutes,  and  the  Saxons:  a  con¬ 
quest  as  inevitable  as  it  was  beneficial;  a  conquest  so 
stern  as  practically  to  sweep  from  existence  a  whole 
people,  excepting  the  women,  who  were  spared  to  be¬ 
come  the  slaves  of  the  conquerors,  and  such  of  the  men 
as  were  needed  to  fill  servile  positions.  The  conquest  of 
a  Christian  nation  by  a  pagan  one  must  have  resulting 
justification  of  the  highest  order,  if  it  is  not  to  be  stamped 
as  one  of  the  greatest  calamities  of  history,  and  such  justi¬ 
fication  is  amply  afforded  by  the  splendid  history  of  the 
English  people.  In  the  light  of  the  achievements  for 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


47 


humanity  that  are  presented  by  the  record  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples,  we  need  not  take  up  the  lament  of  a 
Gildas  over  the  woes  of  the  Britons. 

The  impact  of  the  virile  peoples  of  northern  Europe 
against  the  serried  ranks  of  soldiery  that  circled  the  lines 
of  the  great  world  empire  was  the  irresistible  impulse  of 
civilization  to  preserve  and  to  further  the  march  of  the 
race  toward  the  goal  that  mankind  in  all  its  wholesome 
periods  has  felt  to  be  its  unalterable  destiny.  The  con¬ 
quest  of  Britain  was  a  part  of  this  great  world  movement. 
Its  striking  difference  as  compared  with  the  method  and 
the  results  of  the  barbarian  conquests  on  the  continent 
lay  in  the  fact  that  the  new  nationalities  that  there  arose 
in  the  path  of  the  invaders  were  Latin,  while  the  Eng¬ 
land  of  Anglo-Saxon  creation  was  essentially  Teutonic. 
Hardly  a  vestige  of  the  Roman  occupancy  of  the  country 
remains  in  language,  in  literature,  in  law,  in  custom,  or 
in  race. 

The  independence  of  the  English  people  of  Roman  in¬ 
fluence,  and  British  as  well,  leads  us  to  connect  the  cus¬ 
toms,  habits,  and,  in  a  word,  the  status  and  the  civilization 
of  their  women,  not  with  the  antecedent  line  of  British 
life,  but  with  the  tribes  of  the  German  forests.  Some  in¬ 
fluence  was  exerted  by  the  British  women  upon  the  life  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  but  it  was  not  sufficient  to  become  an 
influential  factor  in  the  crystallization  of  the  new  nation. 
Some  of  the  surviving  customs,  manners,  and  superstitions 
of  the  English  women  are  of  undoubted  British  origin,  and 
remain  as  a  part  of  the  folklore  of  the  English  race  as  we 
know  it.  There  is  no  question  that  the  life  of  the  common 
people  was  tinctured  by  superstitious  beliefs  and  magic, 
which  even  Christianity  had  failed  completely  to  eradicate 
from  the  faith  of  the  British  women.  And  this  is  true,  too, 
with  matters  of  custom  and,  perhaps,  of  dress. 


48 


WOMAN 


The  status  of  the  female  sex  among  the  Anglo-Saxons 
is  well  set  forth  by  Sharon  Turner  in  his  History  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons.  He  says:  “It  is  a  well-known  fact  that 
the  female  sex  were  much  more  highly  valued  and  more 
respectfully  treated  by  the  barbarous  Gothic  nations  than 
by  the  more  polished  states  of  the  East.  Among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  they  occupied  the  same  important  and  inde¬ 
pendent  rank  in  society  which  they  now  enjoy. ” 

They  were  allowed  to  possess,  to  inherit,  and  to  trans¬ 
mit  landed  property;  they  shared  in  all  social  festivities; 
they  were  present  at  the  Witenagemot;  they  were  per¬ 
mitted  to  sue  and  could  be  sued  in  the  courts  of  justice; 
and  their  persons,  their  safety,  their  liberty,  and  their 
property  were  protected  by  express  laws. 

The  dignity  and  the  chastity  of  the  women  of  the  Ger¬ 
manic  tribes  made  a  profound  impression  on  the  minds  of 
the  Roman  writers  who  had  an  opportunity  for  observing 
them,  and  evoked  from  them  the  warmest  tributes.  They 
remarked  that  the  Germans  were  the  only  barbarians 
content  with  one  wife.  Here,  then,  we  find  that  of  which 
we  have  not  been  assured  in  our  prior  study  of  the  women 
of  Britain — genuine  monogamous  marriages. 

Tacitus  says:  “A  strict  regard  for  the  sanctity  of  the 
matrimonial  state  characterizes  the  Germans  and  deserves 
our  highest  applause.  Among  the  females,  virtue  runs  no 
hazard  of  being  offended  or  destroyed  by  the  outward 
objects  presented  to  the  senses,  or  of  being  corrupted  by 
such  social  gayeties  as  might  lead  the  mind  astray.  Severe 
punishments  were  ordered  in  case  of  infringement  of  this 
great  bond  of  society.  Vice  is  not  made  the  subject  of  wit 
or  mirth,  nor  can  the  fashion  of  the  age  be  pleaded  in  ex¬ 
cuse  for  being  corrupt  or  for  endeavoring  to  corrupt  others. 
Good  customs  and  manners  avail  more  among  these  bar¬ 
barians  than  good  laws  among  a  more  refined  people. ” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


49 


Among  the  Teutons,  whom  Tacitus  thus  praises  to  the 
discredit  of  his  own  people,  there  was  no  room  for  any 
question  of  the  elemental  rights  of  woman,  for  among 
them  woman  was  more  than  loved,  she  was  reverenced. 

As  Sharon  Turner  observes,  women  were  admitted  into 
the  councils  of  the  men;  and  the  high  position  accorded 
them  is  further  shown  by  their  prominence  in  the  more 
intellectual  priestly  class.  The  proportion  of  women  to 
men  must  have  been  ten  to  one.  Their  preponderance  in 
this  influential  order  assured  them  of  the  preservation  of 
the  regard  in  which  their  sex  was  held.  Its  best  security, 
however,  lay  in  that  instinctive  feeling  of  the  equality  of 
the  sexes  which  is  fundamental  in  the  character  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Germanic  family  as  a  whole. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  because  the  women  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons  had  certain  rights  and  were  accorded  a  cer¬ 
tain  superstitious  reverence,  as  specially  gifted  in  divina¬ 
tion,  they  were  therefore  the  objects  of  chivalrous  devotion 
and  were  surrounded  by  aesthetic  associations.  The  age 
was  a  rude  one,  and  the  race  was  made  up  of  uncouth 
barbarians.  The  female  grace  of  chastity  was  not  the 
result  of  high  ideals,  or  of  wise  deductions  from  the  sacred¬ 
ness  of  the  family  relation  in  its  bearing  upon  society;  it 
did  not  even  have  its  basis  in  conspicuous  moral  motives; 
but  it  was  a  natural  characteristic  of  a  people  who  had 
lived  under  severe  conditions  which  necessitated  a  constant 
struggle  for  supremacy  and  relegated  all  weaknesses  of 
the  flesh  to  a  place  of  secondary  importance.  Had  this 
attribute  sprung  from  any  of  those  considerations  which 
at  a  later  time  gave  rise  to  chivalry,  there  would  be  found 
in  the  poetry  of  the  time  the  evidences  of  a  tender  regard 
for  woman;  her  praise  would  have  been  sung  in  poems 
of  love;  but  there  is  a  dearth  of  love  songs  in  the  verses  of 
this  period.  Love  of  a  kind  there  was,  but  it  was  too 


50 


WOMAN 


matter-of-fact  and  practical  in  its  nature  to  effloresce  into 
sentimentality. 

As  marriage  is  the  basal  principle  of  the  true  family,  it 
will  be  proper  to  begin  a  consideration  of  the  domestic 
relations  of  the  women  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  by  glancing 
at  the  circumstances,  the  significance,  and  the  ceremonies 
of  their  marriages.  When  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  settled 
in  England,  the  primitive  and  barbarous  custom  of  forcibly 
carrying  off  a  bride  had  probably  been  superseded  by  the 
later  form  of  obtaining  a  bride  by  purchase.  While  the 
woman  seems  to  have  had  no  choice  in  the  selection  of  a 
husband,  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  she  did  not 
hold  and  express  opinions;  nor  would  it  be  venturesome 
to  assert  that,  despite  her  legal  limitations,  her  voice  in 
the  matter  of  her  marriage  was  often  a  decisive  one. 
When  the  question  was  beset  with  especial  difficulties,  to 
what  better  umpire  could  a  considerate  parent  refer  the 
matter  than  to  the  bride  herself? 

One  of  the  laws  regulating  the  disposition  of  marriage¬ 
able  maidens  was:  “If  one  buys  a  maiden,  let  her  be 
bought  with  the  price,  if  it  is  a  fair  bargain;  but  if  there  is 
deceit,  let  him  take  her  home  again  and  get  back  the  price 
he  paid.”  This  was  a  sort  of  marriage  with  warranty. 
But  the  law  of  Cnut  took  a  more  liberal  view  of  the  rights 
of  the  girl;  it  says:  “Neither  woman  nor  maid  shall  be 
forced  to  marry  one  who  is  disliked  by  her,  nor  shall  she 
be  sold  for  money,  unless  (the  bridegroom)  gives  some¬ 
thing  of  his  own  free  will.”  By  this  law  the  woman  was 
given  the  decision  of  her  destiny,  and  the  purchase  price 
became  a  free  gift.  If  a  woman  married  below  her  rank,  she 
was  confronted  by  the  alternatives  of  losing  her  freedom  or 
giving  up  her  husband.  As  the  husband  bought  his  wife, 
so  he  might  sell  her  and  their  children,  though  this  was 
rarely  done.  We  need  not,  however,  condemn  too  harshly 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


51 


this  absolute  right  that  was  vested  in  the  head  of  a  family 
in  the  disposition  of  its  members,  as  it  was  but  a  relic  of  a 
usage  common  to  all  patriarchal  societies,  and  which  passed 
away  with  the  clearer  view  of  the  sovereignty  of  self  and 
the  claims  of  society. 

Before  the  marriage  proper  took  place,  there  were  held 
the  ceremonies  of  espousal.  These  consisted  of  fixing  the 
terms  of  the  union,  and  entering  upon  agreements  to  be 
carried  into  effect  after  the  ceremony.  In  later  times,  the 
first  essential  was  the  free  consent  of  the  persons  to  be 
espoused.  This  was  a  step  toward  the  right  of  the  female 
in  the  selection  of  a  husband.  Early  espousals  were  cus¬ 
tomarily,  but  not  invariably,  dependent  upon  the  consent 
of  both  parties.  In  some  instances,  the  parents  espoused 
their  children  when  but  seven  years  of  age.  On  arriving 
at  ten  years  of  age,  either  of  the  parties  could  in  theory 
terminate  the  engagement  at  will;  but  if  they  did  so  be¬ 
tween  the  ages  of  ten  and  twelve,  the  parents  of  the  one 
breaking  the  contract  were  liable  to  damages.  Beyond 
twelve  years,  the  child  as  well  as  its  parents  suffered  the 
penalty. 

After  the  parties  to  the  espousal,  in  the  presence  of 
witnessing  members  of  their  respective  families,  had  de¬ 
clared  their  free  consent  to  the  contract  that  was  to  bind 
them,  the  bridegroom  promised  to  treat  his  betrothed  well, 
“ according  to  God’s  law  and  the  custom  of  society.” 
This  declaration  of  a  good  purpose  was  ratified  by  his 
giving  a  “  wed,”  or  security,  that  he  would  creditably  fulfil 
his  intentions  as  expressed.  The  parents  or  guardians  of 
the  girl  received  these  assurances  in  her  behalf.  The 
foster-lien  was  the  next  important  matter.  This  was  at 
first  paid  at  the  time  of  the  espousal,  until  some  fathers 
with  attractive  daughters  found  it  to  be  a  profitable  invest¬ 
ment  to  have  them  repeatedly  espoused  for  the  sake  of 


52 


WOMAN 


the  foster-lien,  but  without  any  idea  of  consummating  the 
espousal.  This  practice  made  these  precontracts  decidedly 
unpopular  and  led  to  their  being  modified  by  ecclesiastical 
law  that  provided  for  the  payment  of  the  foster-lien  after 
marriage,  in  case  it  had  been  properly  secured  at  the  time 
of  betrothal.  When  these  preliminaries  were  arranged  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned,  the  ceremony  itself  took 
place.  This  consisted  of  “  handfasting  ”  and  the  exchange 
of  something,  even  if  only  a  kiss,  to  bind  the  bargain. 
Frequently  this  sentimental  interchange  was  accompanied 
on  the  part  of  the  groom  elect  by  the  gift  of  an  ox,  a  sad¬ 
dled  horse,  or  other  object  of  value. 

This  formal  engagement  was  really  a  part  of  the  mar¬ 
riage  and  was  regarded  as  beginning  the  wedded  life.  The 
Church,  however,  favored  an  interval  between  the  espousal 
and  the  marriage.  The  ceremony  of  betrothment  usually 
took  place  in  a  church.  If  the  man  refused  or  neglected 
to  complete  the  espousal  within  two  years,  he  forfeited 
the  amount  of  the  foster-lien;  if  the  woman  were  derelict 
in  this  respect,  she  was  required  to  repay  the  foster-lien 
fourfold — later  changed  to  twofold.  It  will  be  seen  by 
this  that  4 ‘  engagements  ”  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  pre¬ 
sumed  serious  intentions,  and  that,  in  a  breach  of  faith, 
the  woman  was  held  more  rigidly  to  account  than  the 
man,  whose  fickleness  was  visited  only  by  forfeiture  of 
the  security  he  had  advanced.  The  woman  was  further 
required  to  return  all  the  presents  that  she  had  received 
from  her  “  intended. ” 

The  marriage  ceremony  was  much  like  that  of  the 
espousal.  The  man  and  woman  avowed  publicly  their 
acceptance  of  each  other  as  wife  and  husband.  The 
bridegroom  was  required  to  confirm  with  his  pledge  all 
that  he  had  promised  at  the  espousal,  and  his  friends 
became  responsible  for  his  due  performance.  Though  by 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


53 


the  customs  of  their  times  the  young  people  were  de¬ 
prived  of  experiencing  the  delights  and  uncertainties  of 
courtship,  the  girls  were  not  to  be  denied  the  joys  of  a 
wedding;  and  when  the  circumstances  of  the  groom  per¬ 
mitted,  the  occasion  was  marked  with  gayety,  music, 
feasting,  and  festivities  of  all  sorts.  The  morning  after 
the  wedding,  the  husband,  before  they  arose,  presented  to 
his  wife  the  morgen  gift.  This  was  a  valuable  considera¬ 
tion,  and  corresponded  to  the  modern  marriage  settlement. 
The  terms  of  the  settlement  were  arranged  before  the 
marriage,  but  the  gift  was  not  actually  presented  until 
the  marriage  had  been  consummated. 

The  rude  conduct  which  accompanies  a  wedding  in  rough 
communities  at  the  present  day,  as  well  as  the  more  inno¬ 
cent  but  embarrassing  pranks  to  which  any  newly  wedded 
couple  may  be  subjected,  find  their  counterpart  in  the 
uncouth  conduct  and  witticisms  that  were  at  one  time  a 
part  of  the  experiences  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  bride  and 
groom.  As  the  bride,  accompanied  by  her  friends,  was 
conducted  to  her  future  home,  where  her  husband,  accord¬ 
ing  to  custom,  awaited  her,  the  procession  was  sometimes 
saluted  by  facetious  youths  with  volleys  of  filth  and  refuse 
of  any  sort,  the  especial  target  of  their  maliciousness  being 
the  frightened  and  insulted  bride  herself.  If  the  young 
rowdies  could  succeed  in  spoiling  her  costume,  they  were 
especially  satisfied  with  themselves.  Aside  from  the  in¬ 
dignity  offered  her,  the  loss  of  her  costume  was  always  a 
serious  matter  to  the  bride,  as  in  that  time  of  scanty 
wardrobes  it  represented  a  large  part  of  her  trousseau. 

The  bridegroom,  if  such  indignities  were  offered  to  his 
spouse,  invariably  sallied  forth  with  his  friends  to  admin¬ 
ister  condign  punishment  to  the  “jokers  and  as  all  free¬ 
men  in  those  days  carried  arms,  bloodshed,  bruises,  and 
broken  bones  resulted.  Later,  the  law  took  cognizance 


54 


WOMAN 


of  the  outrage  and  suppressed  it.  But  such  unpleasant 
experiences  were  not  permitted  to  spoil  the  marriage  fes¬ 
tivities;  the  bride  received  the  felicitations  of  her  friends 
and  displayed  her  gifts— the  latter  being  in  evidence  at  all 
weddings,  because  the  making  of  gifts  on  the  part  of  rela¬ 
tives  was  not  a  thing  of  choice,  but  of  compulsion. 

Among  the  convivial  Anglo-Saxons  the  marriage  would 
have  been  considered  a  very  tame  affair  without  the 
accompanying  excesses  of  unrestrained  feasting,  drinking, 
and  mirth.  The  clergyman  who  had  pronounced  the  bene¬ 
diction  at  the  nuptials  came  to  the  feast  with  a  company 
of  his  clerical  friends.  The  wedding  feast  lasted  for  at 
least  three  days,  and  was  a  time  of  gluttony  and  rioting. 
On  the  first  day,  the  festivities  were  opened  by  the  clergy 
rising  and  singing  a  psalm  or  other  religious  song.  The 
wandering  gleemen,  who  were  always  present  at  these 
feasts,  then  took  up  the  singing;  and  as  they  proceeded, 
to  the  clamorous  approval  of  the  drunken  company,  they 
became  less  and  less  mindful  of  the  proprieties  of  senti¬ 
ment  and  of  action.  The  bride  and  groom  were  not  obliged 
to  remain  to  the  end  of  the  revelry,  but  might  avail  them¬ 
selves  of  an  opportunity  to  slip  out  from  the  hall.  When 
the  company  was  surfeited  with  festivities,  the  more  sober 
of  them  formed  a  procession,  with  the  clergy  in  the  lead, 
and  with  musical  attendance  conducted  the  bride  and  groom 
to  the  nuptial  couch.  The  bed  was  formally  blessed  by 
the  priest,  the  marriage  cup  was  drunk  by  the  bride  and 
the  groom,  and  then  the  couple  were  left  by  their  friends, 
who  returned  to  the  hall  and  renewed  their  feasting.  Even 
Alfred  the  Great,  good  and  wise  as  he  was,  could  not 
escape  the  customs  of  his  times,  and  was  compelled  to 
indulge  in  such  excesses  at  his  wedding  that  he  never 
quite  recovered  from  an  attack  of  illness  he  suffered  in 
consequence. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


55 


Having  noticed  the  rudeness  to  which  the  bride  was 
subjected,  it  is  gratifying  to  mention  a  more  pleasant  bit 
of  waggery  that  was  much  in  vogue,  and  that  corresponds 
more  nearly  to  the  wedding  pranks  of  to-day.  One  of  the 
symbolic  features  of  the  wedding  was  the  touching  by  the 
bridegroom  of  the  forehead  of  the  bride  with  one  of  his 
shoes.  This  signified  that  her  father’s  right  in  her  had 
passed  to  her  husband.  But  when  the  couple  were  con¬ 
ducted  to  their  nuptial  couch  by  the  bridal  company,  it 
was  quite  likely,  if  the  bride  had  a  reputation  for  shrewish¬ 
ness,  that  the  shoe,  which  after  the  ceremony  had  been 
placed  on  the  husband’s  side  of  the  bed,  would  be  found 
on  the  bride’s  side — a  hint  that  the  general  conviction  was 
that  the  headship  of  the  family  would  be  found  to  be  vested 
in  the  wife.  We  can  see  from  this  that  the  custom  of 
throwing  an  old  shoe  after  a  bride  to  give  her  “  good  luck  ” 
really  signifies  the  wish  that  she  may  dominate  the  new 
establishment. 

The  marriage  of  a  girl  was  signalized  by  her  being  there¬ 
after  allowed  to  bind  her  hair  in  folds  about  her  head.  Up 
to  that  time  she  wore  her  hair  loose.  This  custom,  which 
in  earlier  days  signified  a  wife’s  subjection,  came  now  to 
denote  the  high  dignity  to  which  she  had  been  raised;  her 
hair  thus  arranged  was  a  crown  of  honor,  and  every  girl 
looked  eagerly  forward  to  the  time  when  she  might  wear 
a  volute,  as  this  style  of  hairdressing  was  called. 

The  very  practical  Anglo-Saxon  marriage  bargains  do 
not  partake  much  of  the  flavor  of  romance.  We  find 
other  evidences  of  the  mercenary  motives  that  pervaded 
the  marriage  customs  of  the  time.  The  idea  of  marriage 
as  the  purchase  of  a  wife,  who  in  that  relation  became  the 
property  of  her  husband,  is  further  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  unfaithfulness  might  be  condoned  by  a  money  pay¬ 
ment,  the  were.  An  old  law  says:  “  If  a  freeman  cohabit 


56 


WOMAN 


with  the  wife  of  a  freeman,  he  must  pay  the  were,  and 
obtain  another  woman  with  his  own  money  and  lead  her 
to  the  other/ ’  Indeed,  the  chastity  of  women  was  regu¬ 
lated  by  a  set  price,  according  to  their  station.  If  the 
woman  in  the  case  were  of  the  rank  of  an  earl’s  wife,  the 
culprit  paid  a  fine  of  sixty  shillings,  and  paid  to  the  hus¬ 
band  five  shillings;  if  the  woman  were  unfree  or  below 
age,  he  suffered  imprisonment  or  mutilation.  These  cita¬ 
tions  from  the  laws  of  the  time  are  not  made  to  show 
regulations  of  morals,  but  to  illustrate  the  fact  that  in  the 
case  of  free  women  offences  could  be  satisfied  by  a  money 
payment,  just  as  the  husband  in  the  first  instance  acquired 
his  rights  over  his  wife  by  such  a  payment. 

Having  considered  with  some  detail  the  general  regard 
in  which  women  were  held  and  the  customs  of  marriage, 
it  is  now  in  place  to  say  something  about  the  methods  of 
dissolving  the  matrimonial  tie.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  period  we  are  describing  was  one  of  rapid  devel¬ 
opment.  After  the  introduction  of  Christianity  the  un¬ 
couth  barbarians  rapidly  became  civilized,  and  new  laws 
were  constantly  being  made  to  define  the  rights  of  indi¬ 
viduals  in  all  relations.  Thus,  as  marriage  customs  and 
incidents  underwent  modification,  so  did  the  circumstances 
of  divorce.  At  first  the  husband  could,  at  will,  return  his 
wife  to  her  parents;  his  power  of  repudiation  was  practi¬ 
cally  unlimited.  But  such  a  condition  could  not  long  be 
brooked,  as  the  practice  was  a  serious  affront  to  the  lady’s 
family.  We  read  in  the  romance  of  Brut  that  Gwendoline 
and  her  friends  not  only  levied  war  on  King  Locrine  for 
repudiating  her  under  the  bewitchments  of  the  beautiful 
Estrild,  but  put  both  the  king  and  his  new  bride  to  death. 
When  Coenwalch  grievously  insulted  Penda,  the  king  of 
the  Mercians,  by  putting  aside  his  wife,  Penda’s  sister,  that 
monarch  at  once  declared  war  on  the  West  Saxon  king. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


57 


Such  grave  disorders  were  incited  by  this  unjust  right  of 
the  husband  that,  largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
clergy,  limitations  were  put  upon  the  practice.  Naturally, 
the  first  step  was  to  require  cause  for  the  repudiation  of  a 
wife.  The  causes  advanced  were  usually  frivolous  or  in¬ 
sufficient;  but  when  the  bishops  taught  that  “if  a  man 
repudiated  his  wife,  he  was  not  to  marry  another  in  her 
lifetime,  if  he  wished  to  be  a  very  good  Christian, ”  the 
custom  became  less  prevalent,  especially  as  the  second 
wife  was  punished  by  excommunication.  The  right  of 
repudiation  for  cause  was  exercised  by  wives  as  well  as 
husbands.  The  case  of  Etheldrythe,  the  daughter  of  Anna, 
the  famous  King  of  East  Anglia,  as  cited  by  Thrupp,  will 
serve  to  illustrate  the  prevailing  conditions  of  the  wedded 
state.  “This  young  lady  had  the  misfortune  to  be  very 
weak  and  very  rich.  She  was  consequently  sought  for  as 
a  wife,  by  princes  who  cared  nothing  for  her  person,  and 
as  a  nun,  by  churchmen  who  cared  as  little  for  her  soul. 
She  endeavored  to  please  all  parties.  She  took  a  vow  of 
virginity  with  permission  to  marry,  and  married  with  per¬ 
mission  to  observe  her  vow.  Her  first  husband,  Tonde- 
bert,  Earl  of  Girvii,  who  probably  obtained  possession  of 
her  land,  did  not  trouble  himself  about  her  or  her  personal 
property;  and  on  his  death,  she  retired  to  Ely.  She  sub¬ 
sequently  married  Egfried,  a  son  of  the  King  of  Northum¬ 
bria,  a  boy  of  about  thirteen,  whose  friends  desired  her 
estate.  He,  also,  for  some  time  willingly  respected  her 
vow,  but  afterward  attempted  to  compel  her  to  do  her  duty 
as  a  wife.  She  refused  compliance  with  his  wishes,  and, 
having  succeeded  in  escaping  from  his  kingdom,  again  took 
up  her  residence  in  a  monastery.  There,  in  defiance  of 
her  marriage  vow,  she  emulated  the  strictest  chastity 
of  the  cloister  while  in  the  bonds  of  marriage.  The  clergy 
applauded  her  conduct,  and,  no  doubt,  obtained  possession 


58 


WOMAN 


of  her  estates.  The  king  took  a  second  wife;  and  all  par¬ 
ties  appear  to  have  been  satisfied  with  what  was,  in  truth, 
a  very  discreditable  transaction.” 

After  the  decline  of  the  right  of  repudiation,  marriage 
could  be  annulled  by  mutual  consent,  and  the  parties  were 
probably  permitted  to  marry  again.  Legal  divorces  were 
granted  for  adultery,  and  what  the  clergy  called  spiritual 
adultery,  which  consisted  of  marriage  to  a  godfather  or  a 
godmother  or  anyone  who  was  of  spiritual  kindred,  as 
such  imagined  relatives  were  called.  To  these  causes 
for  divorce  were  added  idolatry,  heresy,  schism,  heinous 
crimes,  leprosy,  and  insanity.  If  either  husband  or  wife 
were  carried  off  into  slavery,  or  otherwise  became  unfree, 
or  were  made  a  prisoner  of  war,  the  other  had  a  right  to 
remarry  after  a  certain  time. 

To  insure  a  decent  interval  between  marriages,  the 
law  stipulated  that  if  a  widow  entered  again  into  wedlock 
within  a  year  after  the  death  of  her  former  husband,  she 
should  sacrifice  the  morgen  gift  and  all  the  property  she  had 
derived  from  him. 

At  first,  the  childless  wife  had  no  interest  in  her  hus¬ 
band’s  property;  at  his  death,  the  duty  of  caring  for  her 
reverted  to  her  own  family.  If  she  had  children,  she  was 
entitled  to  one-half  of  his  estate,  but  this  was  in  the  nature 
of  a  provision  for  the  children.  But  as  society  improved, 
the  rights  of  widows  came  to  be  recognized.  Women  had 
from  the  earliest  times  been  permitted  to  hold  and  bequeath 
property  in  their  own  .  right;  the  failure  to  recognize  the 
widow’s  interest  in  her  deceased  husband’s  estate  arose 
from  her  being  regarded  as  having  left  her  own  family  circle 
and  identified  herself  with  that  of  her  husband  for  his  life 
only;  therefore,  at  his  death  she  renewed  her  connection 
with  her  own  family,  who  assumed  the  care  of  her.  In 
the  case  of  her  children,  they,  being  of  his  flesh  and  blood, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


59 


had  a  natural  interest  in  their  father’s  property,  while  the 
wife’s  relations  with  her  husband  were  simply  contractual. 
A  more  just  view  prevailed  in  the  time  of  Cnut,  as  is  shown 
by  one  of  his  laws,  which  provided  that  the  widow  not  only 
had  a  right  to  her  settled  property,  but,  whether  she  had 
children  or  not,  was  entitled  to  one-third  of  whatever  had 
been  acquired  jointly  by  her  and  her  husband  during  their 
married  life,  “  excepting  his  clothes  and  his  bed.”  This 
law  did  not  abrogate  the  provision  already  stated,  that  the 
widow  forfeited  everything  in  case  she  married  within 
a  year. 

About  the  time  of  Cnut’s  laws  giving  wider  rights  to 
wives  in  the  matter  of  property,  there  was  passed  a  law 
that  recognized  the  wife’s  right  to  exclusive  control  of  her 
personal  effects.  Wardrobes  had  become  much  more  ex¬ 
tensive,  and  the  law  took  the  view  that  a  woman  had  a 
right  to  a  chest  or  closet  of  her  own,  wherein  to  keep  her 
clothing,  her  jewelry  and  ornaments,  and  all  the  little  arti¬ 
cles  dear  to  feminine  fancy  and  personal  to  their  possessor. 
To  this  private  receptacle  her  husband  could  not  have 
access  without  her  leave.  This  curious  law,  making  a 
real  advance  in  woman’s  legal  status,  arose  out  of  the 
predatory  tendencies  of  the  age. 

When  a  child  was  born  in  an  Anglo-Saxon  household  in 
the  earliest  days,  the  first  thought  was  not,  what  shall  it 
be  named,  but,  shall  it  be  put  to  death?  In  those  rude 
times,  the  custom  of  exposure  applied  to  the  young  and  to 
the  very  old.  Life  was  a  continual  hardship,  and  food 
was  often  extremely  difficult  to  procure.  Care  for  the 
feeble  implies  a  solicitude  for  life  that  was  foreign  to  the  ex¬ 
periences  of  the  men  of  that  day.  The  weak  and  the 
sickly  were  regarded  as  superfluous  members  of  society. 
If  the  infant  were  deformed,  or  not  wanted  for  any  reason, 
it  was  either  killed  outright,  exposed,  or  sold  into  slavery. 


6o 


WOMAN 


We  like  to  believe  that  when  the  Anglo-Saxons  settled  in 
Britain  and  found  themselves  under  more  comfortable  con¬ 
ditions  of  living  than  those  to  which  they  had  been  accus¬ 
tomed  in  the  inhospitable  clime  whence  they  came,  with 
its  constant  threat  of  famine,  they  discarded  this  dreadful 
practice;  but  customs  die  slowly,  and,  as  the  parent  had 
absolute  rights  in  the  person  of  his  child,  sentiment  against 
the  practice  required  time  to  become  general.  The  rugged 
Teuton,  teeming  with  an  overflowing  vitality,  had  not 
adopted  the  modern  method  of  birth  restriction  as  a  solu¬ 
tion  of  the  problem  of  sustenance.  There  was  no  Malthus 
in  the  forests  of  Germany  to  discourse  on  the  economic 
effect  of  an  overplus  of  population  and  to  awaken  inquiry 
as  to  the  best  way  to  limit  the  human  family  within  the 
bounds  of  possible  sustenance.  It  was  a  condition  and  not 
a  theory  that  faced  the  Teuton,  and  he  met  the  situation 
in  the  only  way  known  to  him.  As  the  problem  passed 
away,  the  practice  went  also,  though  isolated  cases  of  ex¬ 
posure  of  infants  continued  down  to  the  tenth  century. 

In  the  form  of  exposing  children  of  clouded  birth,  the 
practice  of  infanticide  grew  with  the  lowering  of  morals; 
but  in  the  case  of  legitimate  offspring  the  custom  declined. 
The  Church  imposed  heavy  penalties  on  those  found  guilty 
of  the  practice.  Fortunately  for  the  infants  so  treated, 
there  was  a  prevailing  superstition  that  to  adopt  one  of 
these  foundlings  brought  good  luck.  The  great  prevalence 
of  the  crime  at  some  periods  is  shown  by  the  rewards 
offered  by  the  different  monarchs  to  those  who  would 
adopt  foundlings.  All  rights  in  the  child  passed  to  the 
one  who  adopted  it.  The  general  willingness  to  adopt 
such  children  led  to  many  abuses.  Mothers  thus  relieved 
themselves  of  the  duty  of  caring  for  their  offspring,  while 
those  to  whom  the  children  were  committed  often  looked 
upon  them  as  so  many  units  of  labor,  and  made  life  very 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


6l 


hard  for  them.  Homicide  was  frequently  one  of  the  effects 
of  the  baleful  practice,  and  generally  occurred  under  con¬ 
ditions  that  made  it  difficult  to  fix  the  guilt. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  as  Gummere  points  out,  that 
the  barbaric  custom  of  exposing  infants  “  lies  at  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  most  exquisite  myths — Lohengrin  the  swan- 
knight,  Arthur  the  forest  foundling,  and  that  mystic  child 
who  in  the  prelude  of  our  national  epic,  Beowulf,  drifts  in 
his  boat,  a  child  of  destiny,  to  the  shores  of  a  kingless 
land.’, 

Grimm  quotes  from  a  Danish  ballad,  where  a  mother 
puts  her  babe  in  a  chest,  lays  with  it  consecrated  salt  and 
candles,  and  goes  to  the  waterside: 

“  Thither  she  goes  along  the  strand 
And  pushes  the  chest  so  far  from  land, 

Casts  the  chest  so  far  from  shore : 

‘To  Christ  the  Mighty  1  give  thee  o’er; 

To  the  mighty  Christ  I  surrender  thee, 

For  thou  hast  no  longer  a  mother  in  me.’  ” 

The  custom  of  exposing  illegitimate  offspring  shows  a 
retrogression  from  the  standards  of  rugged  chastity  which 
were  characteristic  of  the  earlier  period  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
settlement  in  Britain.  In  those  times,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  German  women  were  models  of  virtue;  the  slightest 
departure  from  morality  was  viewed  with  horror  and 
visited  with  severe  punishment.  If  the  one  guilty  of  mis¬ 
conduct  were  married,  she  was  shorn  of  her  hair,  the 
greatest  degradation  to  which  she  could  be  subjected,  and 
then  driven  naked  from  her  husband’s  house,  her  own 
relatives  giving  their  countenance  and  aid  to  the  husband 
in  thus  banishing  her.  She  was  expelled  from  the  village, 
and  not  allowed  to  return.  At  a  later  date,  such  a  woman, 
married  or  unmarried,  was  made  to  strangle  herself  with 
her  own  hands;  her  refusal  to  do  so  availed  nothing,  as  the 


62 


WOMAN 


women  of  the  neighborhood  stripped  off  her  garments  to 
the  waist,  and  then  with  knives,  whips,  and  stones  hunted 
her  from  village  to  village  until  death  mercifully  relieved 
her  from  further  torture. 

In  spite  of  such  harsh  penalties,  the  moral  standard 
could  not  be  maintained  at  a  high  level.  It  is  more  than 
likely  that  its  decline  was  due  in  part  to  the  women  whom 
the  Northmen  brought  with  them.  When  they  touched 
the  shores  of  Britain,  it  was  often  after  piratical  voyages 
that  had  taken  them  to  the  coasts  of  France,  Spain,  Italy, 
and  even  Africa.  When  this  was  the  case,  they  were 
always  accompanied  by  large  numbers  of  female  slaves 
from  these  countries.  Then,  too,  the  greater  part  of  the 
British  women  were  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  new  mas¬ 
ters  of  the  country,  and  none  of  these  were  treated  with 
the  consideration  for  their  sex  that  was  accorded  the  Ger¬ 
man  women.  The  repute  of  the  women  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  remained  unimpaired,  excepting  as  to  particular 
classes  and  particular  times;  the  women  not  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin  were,  perforce,  the  chief  offenders  against 
morality. 

The  era  of  the  Danish  invasion  was  a  time  of  almost 
unbridled  license.  Female  character  could  not  withstand 
the  tide  of  immorality  that  came  in  with  the  new  wave  of 
heathen  invaders.  The  women  whom  the  Vikings  brought 
with  them  were  captives  of  the  lowest  grade,  ravished 
from  their  homes  for  the  pleasure  of  their  captors  on  their 
long  sea  voyage.  On  their  arrival  they  were  made  slaves 
of  the  camp,  following  the  army  wearily  in  its  marches 
from  place  to  place.  This  miserable  degradation  was 
forced  upon  many  pure  English  women  by  the  brutal  lords 
of  the  sea.  When  the  invaders  settled  down  to  live  at 
peace  with  the  English,  and,  by  amalgamation,  to  be  ab¬ 
sorbed  into  the  larger  race,  it  was  centuries  before  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


63 


country  recovered  from  the  blight  of  immorality  that  had 
fallen  upon  it;  but,  with  its  rare  powers  of  recuperation, 
Anglo-Saxon  virtue  reasserted  its  principles  and  caused  its 
conquerors  to  subscribe  to  them. 

Before  considering  the  dress,  the  amusements,  and  the 
employments  of  the  women,  a  description  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  house  will  serve  to  illustrate  much  of  the  common 
life  of  the  women.  This  was  not  evolved  from  that  of 
the  Briton;  it  marks  a  departure  in  the  architecture  of  the 
country.  Neither  the  rude  houses  of  the  poorer  of  the 
Britons  nor  the  villa  of  the  Roman  provincial  appealed  to 
the  forest  nomads,  who  were  accustomed  to  light,  tentlike 
structures  that  could  be  readily  taken  down  and  erected 
elsewhere  as  their  changing  habitat  directed. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  town  of  the  earliest  period  was  only 
a  cluster  of  wooden  houses — a  family  centre  constantly 
added  to  by  the  increase  and  dividing  of  the  household, 
until  the  settlement  assumed  something  of  the  proportions 
of  a  town.  Stone  was  not  in  favor  with  the  Teutons  for 
their  dwellings.  They  saw  in  it  the  relic  of  the  demigods 
of  a  remote  past;  stone  masonry  seemed  supernatural,  and 
they  called  it  “the  giants’  ancient  work.”  The  house  of 
the  Teutons  was  probably  a  development  of  the  ancient 
burrow;  as  Heyn  expresses  the  process  of  its  evolution: 
“Little  by  little  rose  the  roof  of  turf,  and  the  cavern  under 
the  house  served  at  last  only  for  winter  and  the  abode  of 
the  women.”  The  summer  house  of  wattles,  twigs  and 
branches,  bound  together  by  cords,  and  with  a  thatched 
roof,  a  rough  door,  and  no  windows,  seemed  to  serve  these 
unsettled  people,  whose  surroundings  abounded  with  the 
materials  for  substantial  edifices. 

The  architecture  of  the  Germans  developed  rapidly. 
Soon  there  was  a  substantial  hall,  or  main  house,  which 
was  the  place  of  gathering  and  feasting  and  the  sleeping 


64 


WOMAN 


place  of  the  men.  The  women  slept,  and  we  may  say 
dwelt,  in  the  bower.  Necessary  outbuildings  were  sup¬ 
plied  in  abundance.  The  floor  of  the  hall  was  of  hard 
earth  or  of  clay,  perhaps  particolored,  and  forming  pat¬ 
terns  of  rude  mosaic.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  the 
rough  warrior  to  ride  into  the  hall,  and  to  stable  there  his 
beloved  steed,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extract 
from  an  English  ballad  of  a  later  date,  which  is  given  us 
by  Professor  Child: 

“  Kyng  Estmere  he  stabled  his  steede 
Soe  fayre  att  the  hall-bord ; 

The  froth  that  came  from  his  brydle  bitte 
Light  in  Kyng  Bremor’s  beard.” 

Rows  of  benches  were  commonly  placed  outside  of  the 
hall;  the  exterior  walls  and  the  roof  were  painted  in  striking 
colors.  Huge  antlers  fringed  the  gables;  the  windows, 
lacking  glass,  were  placed  high  up  in  the  wall,  and  a  hole 
in  the  roof  sufficed  for  the  escape  of  smoke. 

Such  was  the  early  English  hall,  as  it  appears  to  us  in 
the  ballads  and  stories  of  the  times.  The  magnificent  lace 
and  embroidered  hangings  with  which  were  draped  the 
interior  walls  of  the  habitations  of  the  nobility  served  the 
double  purpose  of  decoration  and  protection  from  the  cold 
draughts  that  came  in  through  the  numerous  crevices. 
Even  the  royal  palace  of  Alfred  was  so  draughty  that  the 
candles  in  the  rooms  had  to  be  protected  by  lanterns. 
Benches  and  seats  with  fine  coverings  added  comfort  and 
elegance  to  the  hall.  In  front  of  these  were  placed  stools, 
with  richly  embroidered  coverings,  for  the  feet  of  the 
great  ladies.  The  tables  in  these  Anglo-Saxon  homes 
were  often  of  great  beauty  and  costliness.  In  the  reign  of 
King  Edgar,  Earl  Aethelwold  possessed  a  table  of  silver 
that  was  worth  three  hundred  pounds  sterling.  Many  sorts 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


65 


of  candelabra,  some  of  them  of  exquisite  pattern  and  work¬ 
manship,  made  of  the  precious  metals  and  set  with  jewels, 
were  used  to  impart  to  these  old  halls  the  dim  light  that  in 
our  fancy  of  the  times  becomes  a  feature  of  the  romance  of 
the  knightly  homes  of  older  England. 

Warm  baths  were  essential  to  the  comfort  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon;  to  be  deprived  of  them  and  of  a  soft  bed  was  one 
of  the  severe  penances  imposed  by  the  Church.  The 
ladies’  bower  was  perfumed  with  the  scents  and  spices  of 
India  and  the  East. 

Though  the  houses  still  left  much  to  be  desired  in  the 
way  of  architectural  features  as  well  as  ordinary  conven¬ 
ience,  the  appointments  and  furnishings  of  a  home  of  the 
later  Anglo-Saxon  period  showed  a  keen  appreciation  of 
creature  comforts. 

The  law  of  hospitality  opened  all  doors  to  the  wayfaring 
freeman.  When  he  wound  his  horn  in  the  forest  as  he 
approached  the  hall  to  protect  himself  from  being  set  upon 
as  a  marauder,  he  was  welcomed  to  the  warm  fire,  the 
loaded  table,  and  the  guest  bed,  without  question.  In 
later  times,  the  traveller  was  permitted  to  remain  to  the 
third  night.  The  guest  who  came  hungry,  weary,  and 
dusty  to  one  of  these  hospitable  homes  and  received  ad¬ 
mittance  might  esteem  himself  fortunate,  for  the  women 
of  the  time  were  well  versed  in  the  art  of  wholesome 
cookery,  and  had  at  hand  a  plentiful  variety  of  foods. 
For  their  meats  they  might  select  from  the  choice  cuts  of 
venison,  beef,  and  lamb,  besides  pork,  chicken,  goat,  and 
hare.  Birds  and  fish  afforded  greater  variety.  Of  the 
latter  there  were  salmon,  herring,  sturgeons,  flounders, 
and  eels;  and  of  shellfish,  crabs,  lobsters,  and  oysters. 
Horse  flesh  was  in  early  use  as  a  comestible,  but  later  be¬ 
came  repugnant  to  taste,  and  was  discountenanced  by  the 
Church  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth  century. 


66 


WOMAN 


To  the  meats  was  added  a  variety  of  warm  breads, 
made  of  barley  meal  and  of  flour.  Eggs,  butter,  cheese, 
and  curds,  with  many  sorts  of  vegetables,  were  to  be 
found  on  the  tables;  while  figs,  nuts,  almonds,  pears,  and 
apples  were  probably  served  by  the  women  to  the  com¬ 
pany  as  they  sat  in  discourse  about  the  fire,  or,  stretched 
at  full  length  upon  the  floor,  became  absorbed  in  games 
of  chance.  For  the  Germans  were  such  inveterate 
gamblers  that  money,  goods,  chattels,  their  wives,  and 
even  their  own  liberty,  were  often  risked  by  the  casting 
of  dice. 

The  women  were  admitted  to  seats  at  the  tables  with 
the  men,  the  girls  being  engaged  in  serving  the  drinks, 
which  were  as  freely  used  then  as  now.  Even  after  the 
company  were  surfeited  with  food  and  the  tables  were 
removed,  drinking  was  kept  up  until  the  evening. 

The  costumes  of  a  people  are  of  the  greatest  worth  in 
revealing  to  the  student  their  grade  of  civilization  and 
their  ideals.  There  can  be  no  question  but  that  taste  in 
dress  is  one  of  the  best  gauges  by  which  to  determine 
whether  at  a  particular  time  the  people  were  serious- 
minded  or  frivolous,  moral  or  immoral,  swayed  by  high 
aspirations  or  the  prey  of  indolence  and  sensuous  gratifi¬ 
cations.  Just  as  truly  can  we  arrive  at  the  characteristics 
of  a  race  or  a  period  by  seeing  the  people  at  their  play. 
If  we  find  them  given  to  gladiatorial  exhibitions,  we  shall 
not  err  in  concluding  that  they  were  a  vigorous  and  war¬ 
like  people;  if  they  are  found  at  the  bull  fight,  we  may 
safely  adjudge  them  to  be  a  brutalized  and  enervated  race. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  can  safely  be  brought  to  this  test.  If  the 
dress  of  the  women  is  a  criterion  of  morals,  then  were 
these  people  of  early  England  exemplary;  if  the  games  in 
vogue  denote  the  race  characteristics,  then  were  these 
rude,  but  wholesome. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


67 


After  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  Christian¬ 
ity,  there  were  evidently  some  changes  made  in  their 
garb,  to  indicate  their  abjuration  of  heathenism;  for  in  the 
Church  council  of  785  the  complaint  was  made  that  “you 
put  on  your  garments  in  the  manner  of  the  pagans,  whom 
your  fathers  expelled  from  the  world;  an  astonishing 
thing,  that  you  should  imitate  those  whose  life  you  always 
hated. ”  Change  of  style  in  dress  was  practically  un¬ 
known  among  the  ladies  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period  of 
English  history.  The  illuminations  of  the  old  MSS.,  from 
which  all  that  is  definitely  known  on  the  subject  is 
derived,  show  that  the  dress  of  the  women  remained 
practically  the  same  during  the  entire  period. 

The  costume  of  the  women  can  be  described  with  many 
details.  There  was  an  undergarment,  probably  made  of 
linen,  extending  to  the  feet;  it  had  sleeves  that  reached  to 
the  wrists  and  were  there  gathered  tightly  in  little  plaits. 
There  was  an  absence  of  needlework  of  any  sort,  except¬ 
ing  a  simple  bit  of  embroidery  upon  the  shoulder.  The 
customary  color  of  the  garment  was  white.  Over  this 
was  worn  the  gown,  which  was  slightly  longer  than  the 
undergarment,  and  reached  quite  to  the  ground.  It  was 
bound  about  the  waist  by  a  girdle,  by  which  it  was  some¬ 
times  caught  up  and  shortened.  The  sleeves  are  most 
frequently  pictured  as  extending  to  the  wrist,  and  were 
worn  full.  Sometimes,  however,  they  reached  to  only  the 
elbow,  and  in  some  cases  were  wanting  altogether.  This 
garment  was  prettily  ornamented  with  embroidery,  in 
simple  bands  of  sprigs,  diverging  from  a  centre.  Another 
form  of  dress  that  is  represented  seems  to  have  been  an 
out-of-doors  or  travelling  costume.  It  differed  from  the  other 
in  being  of  heavier  material,  possibly  of  fine  woollen  goods, 
and  had  sleeves  that  extended  to  the  knees.  It  is  possible 
that  this  was  a  winter  dress,  and  the  other  a  summer  one. 


68 


WOMAN 


A  mantle  was  worn  about  the  shoulders.  This,  like¬ 
wise,  was  of  a  solid  color,  usually  contrasting  with  that  of 
the  gown.  This  garment  appears  to  have  been  round  or 
oval  in  shape,  with  an  aperture  at  one  side,  so  that  when 
it  was  put  on  it  hung  much  further  down  the  back  than  in 
front.  The  head  was  covered  with  a  wimple,  broad  enough 
to  reach  from  the  top  of  the  forehead  to  the  shoulders, 
where  it  was  generally  wrapped  about  the  neck  in  such  a 
way  that  the  ends  fell  on  the  bosom.  A  less  studied,  but 
more  tasteful,  way  to  wear  it  was  to  have  it  hang  down  on 
one  side  as  far  as  the  knee;  the  effect  of  the  contrasting 
colors  of  the  wimple,  the  mantle,  and  the  gown  was  grati¬ 
fying  to  women  of  taste.  The  shoes  were  black,  and  of 
simple  style.  They  resembled  the  house  slippers  worn  by 
women  to-day;  but  besides  these  low  shoes,  which  came 
only  to  the  ankles,  other  shoes  were  worn,  that  reached 
higher  up  the  leg  and  appeared  to  have  been  laced  much 
as  shoes  now  are.  Stockings  may  or  may  not  have 
been  used. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  description  of  the  costume  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  woman  that  it  was  modest,  complete,  and 
in  good  taste.  She  was,  however,  proud  of  her  attire,  and 
of  the  many  ornaments  that  were  worn  with  it.  The 
ornament  in  most  general  use  was  the  fibula,  or  brooch. 
This  was  of  many  styles:  radiated,  bird-shaped,  cruciform, 
square-shaped,  annular,  and  circular.  It  was  of  gold, 
bronze,  or  iron,  and  showed  the  greatest  delicacy  of  work¬ 
manship.  It  was  worn  on  the  breast,  a  little  to  one  side, 
so  as  to  fasten  the  mantle.  When  we  are  reminded  that 
the  Anglo-Saxons  were  highly  skilled  in  the  art  of  dyeing, 
and  that  they  had  perfected  the  art  of  gilding  leather,  we 
can  readily  see  that  a  lady  of  quality,  when  dressed  in  her 
blue,  purple,  or  crimson  costume  of  state,  her  girdle  clasped 
by  a  finely  chased  brooch  of  gold,  whose  fellow  gleamed 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


69 


in  the  folds  of  her  mantle,  might  have  invited  comparison, 
to  advantage,  with  the  most  stylishly  attired  woman  of 
to-day.  But  when  we  add  to  her  dress  a  mantle,  not 
only  of  rich  colors,  but  embroidered  in  ornate  design,  with 
heavy  threads  of  pure  gold;  massive  arm  rings  of  the  same 
precious  metal,  of  wonderfully  beautiful  pattern,  and  fas¬ 
tened  about  her  round  white  arm  by  delicate  little  chains; 
and  numerous  strings  of  gold,  amber,  and  glass  beads,  rich 
in  pattern  and  cunningly  chased,  the  picture  presented  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  woman  is  altogether  pleasing.  The  orna¬ 
ments  of  the  women  were  not  considered  as  mere  matters 
of  adornment.  To  the  pagan  woman,  her  beads  served  as 
a  protection  against  supernatural  foes.  When  Christian¬ 
ity  came  in,  the  beads  were  blessed  by  a  pious  man  and 
continued  to  serve  the  same  useful  end. 

The  bronze  combs  found  everywhere  in  the  graves  of 
the  time  show  how  careful  the  women  of  the  day  were  to 
keep  in  perfect  order  the  long  locks  of  which  they  were  so 
proud.  From  the  graves  have  been  recovered  chatelaines, 
of  the  fashion  of  those  now  in  vogue,  golden  toothpicks, 
ear  spoons,  and  tweezers.  These  ornaments  and  toilet 
requisites  were  in  constant  use  in  life;  and  in  pagan  times 
they  were  interred  with  their  owner,  that  they  might  still 
be  hers  in  the  other  world. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  understood  the  art  of  inlaying  enamel, 
and  their  colors  were  remarkably  bright  and  enduring. 
But  the  most  striking  evidence  of  proficiency  in  the  jew¬ 
eller’s  art  was  their  cloisonne  ware.  This  art  of  the  East 
was  spread  by  the  barbarian  invasions  over  the  whole  of 
Europe;  De  Baye,  in  his  Industrial  Arts  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  calls  it  “the  first  aesthetic  expression  of  the 
Gothic  nations,”  and  says  that  it  was  not  borrowed,  but 
was  adapted  from  the  East.  He  describes  it  as  follows: 
“  This  cloisonne  work,  set  with  precious  stones  in  a  kind 


70 


WOMAN 


of  mosaic,  and  combined  at  times  with  the  most  delicate 
filigree,  is  sufficiently  characteristic  to  be  remarkable  in 
every  country  where  it  has  left  traces.’ '  This  beautiful 
form  of  art  penetrated  Kent  and  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where 
for  some  reason  it  became  localized  and  assumed  a  par¬ 
ticular  character.  Some  of  the  fibulae  that  have  been  pre¬ 
served  to  us,  and  are  to  be  found  in  the  art  collections  of 
England,  are  remarkable  specimens  of  this  beautiful  craft. 

The  love  of  English  women  for  outdoor  sports  can  be 
traced  to  Anglo-Saxon  times,  and  much  of  the  whole¬ 
some  vigor  of  the  race  is  due  to  those  early  pastimes. 
However  fond  women  may  have  been  of  fine  ornaments, 
then  as  now  it  was  the  privilege  of  the  few  to  possess  them; 
but  the  national  sports  were  enjoyed  by  all.  Hunting, 
hawking,  boating,  swimming,  fishing,  skating,  were  in 
great  favor  with  the  people. 

In  the  winter  there  were  many  long  hours  to  be  whiled 
away  indoors,  and  although  spinning  and  weaving  the 
fabrics  for  the  family  wear,  as  well  as  their  embroidery 
and  lace  work,  took  up  much  of  the  time,  the  women  still 
had  ample  leisure  to  engage  with  the  members  of  their 
households  and,  perhaps,  the  passing  guests  in  the  many 
simple  games  that  delighted  them.  Chess  was  in  marked 
favor,  and  was  played  in  much  the  same  manner  as  now. 
The  exchange  of  witticisms  and  the  guessing  of  conun¬ 
drums  added  much  to  the  innocent  mirth  of  a  household 
intent  on  making  the  long  evenings  pass  as  pleasantly  as 
possible. 

There  were  itinerant  purveyors  of  amusement  who  were 
to  be  found  at  every  feast  and  at  many  family  firesides. 
These  were  the  wandering  minstrels,  or  gleemen.  Although 
they  were  welcomed  for  the  entertainment  they  furnished, 
yet  as  a  social  class  they  were  certainty  in  slight  repute. 
Their  forms  of  entertainment  were  not  limited  to  music. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


71 


They  presented  a  programme  that  included  the  perform¬ 
ances  of  trained  animals,  tricks  of  jugglery,  feats  of  magic, 
and  other  exhibitions  of  skill  and  daring.  Along  with  the 
gleemen  went  the  glee  maidens,  who  were  the  dancing 
and  acrobatic  girls  of  the  day.  Dancing  itself  was  a  very 
rudimentary  performance,  but  the  enthusiasm  of  the  audi¬ 
ence  was  aroused  by  the  acts  of  tumbling  and  contortion 
that  were  introduced  into  it.  Convinced  that  dancing  alone 
could  not  account  for  the  bewitchment  of  Herod  by  the 
daughter  of  his  brother  Philip’s  wife,  the  translators  into 
the  vernacular  of  that  Biblical  circumstance  say  of  Hero- 
dias  that  she  “ tumbled”  before  Herod;  and  the  illumina¬ 
tions  in  a  prayerbook  of  the  time  show  Herodias  in  the  act 
of  tumbling,  with  the  assistance  of  a  female  attendant. 

Slight  protection,  either  from  law  or  custom,  was 
afforded  women  of  the  lower  classes  from  gross  insults. 
Any  female  was  likely  to  be  stopped  on  the  road  and 
partially  or  altogether  denuded  of  her  clothing,  and  then 
sent  on  her  way  with  taunts  and  jeers.  But,  despite  the 
coarseness  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  times,  sentiment  finally 
made  itself  felt  for  the  correction  of  such  manners.  The 
women  were  responsible  for  the  diffusion  of  notions  of 
greater  refinement. 

While  there  was  little  deserving  the  name  of  education, 
and  even  reading  and  writing  were  the  accomplishments 
of  but  a  small  part  of  the  people,  the  monastic  orders  con¬ 
served  some  notion  of  scholarship.  Unfavorable  as  were 
the  times  to  productive  thought,  scholars  of  no  mean  ability 
nevertheless  flourished,  and  among  men  and  women  alike 
there  was  a  desire  for  learning.  To  his  female  scholars 
the  monk  Anghelm  dedicated  his  works:  De  Laude  Vir- 
ginitatis.  Certain  Saxon  ladies  of  leisure  occupied  them¬ 
selves  with  the  study  of  Latin,  which  they  came  to  read 
and  write  with  some  ease.  The  literary  antecedents 


72 


WOMAN 


of  the  brilliant  women  of  the  sixteenth  century  are  to  be 
found  in  that  little  group  of  studious  women  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  of  whom  the  Abbess  Eadburga  and  her  pupil 
Leobgitha,  with  both  of  whom  Saint  Boniface  corresponded 
in  Latin,  were  the  most  notable. 

The  nuns  were  a  class  apart.  The  separation  of  the 
monks  and  the  nuns  in  the  monastic  establishments  was 
gradually  brought  about  by  Church  regulations  and  the 
rules  of  the  orders.  By  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  the 
separate  monasteries  had  effected  the  separation  of  the  men 
and  the  women,  and  in  the  eighth  century  the  erection  of 
double  monasteries  was  forbidden.  Long  before  this  time, 
however,  the  more  earnest  of  the  ladies  in  superintendence 
of  the  monasteries  had  prohibited  the  admission  of  men  to 
the  female  side  of  the  establishments,  excepting  such  men 
as  the  sainted  Cuthbert  and  the  venerable  Bede.  These- 
regulations  were  very  strict  and  almost  put  an  end  to 
the  scandalous  allegations  about  the  religious  establish¬ 
ments.  The  charge  that  the  priests  resorted  to  the  mon¬ 
asteries  for  mistresses  probably  had  no  better  foundation 
than  the  fact  that  many  of  the  priests  continued  to  marry, 
in  spite  of  the  rule  of  celibacy.  Whatever  truth  there  is 
in  the  assertion  that  kings  obtained  their  mistresses  from 
the  ranks  of  the  nuns  must  be  laid  to  the  civil  interference 
and  claims  of  jurisdiction  over  religious  institutions.  But 
while  the  headship  of  convents  was  frequently  offered  to 
women  of  high  rank  and  low  morals,  whom  it  was  con¬ 
venient  thus  to  get  rid  of,  and  in  this  way  certain  institu¬ 
tions  became  debauched,  the  monastic  system  itself  did 
not  become  corrupt,  and  there  were  monasteries  of  notable 
purity  and  great  worth. 

The  story  of  Eadburga,  the  widow  of  Beorthric,  King  of 
Kent,  illustrates  the  hardships  inflicted  upon  the  monas¬ 
teries,  through  the  assumption  of  royal  personages  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


73 


appoint  their  heads.  Eadburga  was  a  notable  beauty, 
and  was  renowned  as  well  for  her  talents  and  her  am¬ 
bition.  She  ruled  her  husband  with  a  jealous  tyranny, 
removing  from  court  by  false  accusation  or  by  poisoning 
all  who  stood  in  her  path.  The  Earl  Worr,  a  young  man 
of  great  personal  charm,  was  one  of  those  who  exerted  an 
influence  over  her  husband.  On  some  occasion  of  public 
hospitality  she  proffered  him  a  cup  of  poisoned  liquor;  the 
king,  who  was  present,  claimed  his  right  of  precedence, 
and,  after  drinking  from  the  cup,  passed  it  to  the  earl,  who 
drained  it.  Both  of  them  died,  leaving  the  guilty  queen 
exposed  to  the  wrath  of  the  royal  family.  Eadburga  fled 
to  the  court  of  Charlemagne,  where  she  was  graciously 
received,  and  after  a  time  the  king  suggested  to  her  that 
she  lay  aside  her  widow's  weeds  and  become  his  wife.  She 
showed  so  little  tact  as  to  say  that  she  would  prefer  his 
son.  Charlemagne,  piqued  by  her  answer,  said  that  had 
she  expressed  a  preference  for  him,  it  had  been  his  pur¬ 
pose  to  give  her  in  marriage  to  his  son;  as  it  was,  she 
should  marry  neither  of  them.  She  remained  at  the  court 
until  the  king,  scandalized  by  her  wicked  life,  placed  her 
at  the  head  of  an  excellent  monastery.  In  this  responsi¬ 
ble  position,  Eadburga  behaved  herself  as  badly  as  ever; 
and  as  the  result  of  an  amour  with  a  countryman  of  low 
birth,  she  was  expelled  from  the  convent.  This  widow  of 
a  monarch  ended  her  career  as  a  common  beggar  in  the 
streets  of  Pavia. 

A  very  different  class  from  the  nuns,  but,  like  them,  a 
distinct  class  in  the  social  life  of  Anglo-Saxon  times, 
were  the  slaves.  The  least  amiable  trait  of  the  women  of 
the  times  was  their  treatment  of  servants.  Although 
there  were  striking  instances  of  kindly  and  considerate 
regard  for  this  class  on  the  part  of  their  mistresses,  yet 
the  slight  legal  protection  afforded  them,  and  the  rough, 


74 


WOMAN 


impetuous  natures  of  the  masters,  made  the  existence  of 
the  servile  class  miserable.  It  was  not  unusual  for  slaves 
to  be  scourged  to  death;  and  for  comparatively  slight 
offences  they  were  loaded  with  gyves  and  fetters  and 
subjected  to  all  kinds  of  tortures.  On  one  occasion,  the 
maidservant  of  a  bellmaker  of  Winchester  was,  for  a  slight 
offence,  fettered  and  hung  up  by  the  hands  and  feet  all 
night.  The  next  morning,  after  being  frightfully  beaten, 
she  was  again  put  in  fetters.  The  following  night,  she 
contrived  to  free  herself,  and  fled  for  sanctuary  to  the 
tomb  of  Saint  Swithin.  This  was  not  an  exceptional  in¬ 
stance;  it  illustrates  the  severity  that  was  customarily 
meted  out  to  serfs. 

The  queens  and  other  ladies  of  rank  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  included  some  who  were  ornaments  to  the  sex  in 
industry  and  intelligence  as  well  as  charity.  Their  influ¬ 
ence  on  politics  for  good  or  for  evil  was  often  the  result  of 
their  position  as  members  of  rival  houses.  Christianity  was 
often  furthered  by  the  alliance  of  a  Christian  princess  to  a 
pagan  king;  Bertha,  the  daughter  of  a  famous  Frankish 
king,  was  in  this  way  instrumental  in  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  England.  Herself  a  Christian,  she  mar¬ 
ried  Ethelbert,  King  of  Kent,  on  condition  that  she  should 
be  permitted  to  worship  as  a  Christian  under  the  guidance 
of  a  Frankish  bishop  named  Lindhard.  The  condition  was 
observed,  and  Bertha  had  her  Frankish  chaplain  with  her 
at  court.  She  seems  not  to  have  made  any  attempt  to 
convert  her  husband;  and. he  never  disturbed  her  in  her 
religion.  The  pope  was  probably  informed  of  the  auspi¬ 
ciousness  of  the  outlook  for  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  the  Kentish  kingdom,  and,  being  still  under  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  the  impression  made  upon  him  by  the  flaxen-haired 
Angles  he  had  seen  in  the  slave  markets  of  Rome  before 
his  elevation  to  the  pontificate,  he  determined  to  make  good 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS 


75 


the  vow  he  had  then  registered  to  send  missionaries  to  the 
land  of  the  boy  slaves.  Augustine  was  selected  for  the 
mission,  and  on  arriving,  with  his  companions,  in  England, 
after  a  great  deal  of  trepidation  for  their  personal  safety, 
they  presented  themselves  at  the  court  of  the  King  of  Kent. 
Ethelbert  received  them  in  the  open  air,  with  a  great  show 
of  pomp,  and  gave  them  his  promise  to  interpose  no  hin¬ 
drance  to  their  missionary  endeavors  among  his  people. 
To  Bertha  must  be  ascribed  the  credit  for  the  complaisance 
of  her  husband  and  the  opening  that  was  made  to  restore 
the  Christian  faith,  which  had  perished  with  the  Britons. 

Edith,  the  gentle  queen  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  was 
noted  alike  for  her  skill  with  the  needle  and  her  conver¬ 
sance  with  literature.  Ingulfs  History,  though  perhaps 
not  authentic,  gives  us  a  delightful  picture  of  the  simplicity 
of  her  Anglo-Saxon  court.  “I  often  met  her,”  says  this 
writer, — meaning  Edith, — “  as  I  came  from  school,  and  then 
she  questioned  me  about  my  studies  and  my  verses;  and 
willingly  passing  from  grammar  to  logic,  she  would  catch  me 
in  the  subtleties  of  argument.  She  always  gave  me  two 
or  three  pieces  of  money,  which  were  counted  to  me  by 
her  hand-maiden,  and  then  sent  me  to  the  royal  larder  to 
refresh  myself.” 

Ethelwyn,  another  royal  lady,  and  a  friend  of  Archbishop 
Dunstan,  was  accustomed  to  decorate  the  ecclesiastical 
vestments,  and  the  art  needlework  of  herself  and  her  com¬ 
panions  became  celebrated.  On  account  of  his  well-known 
skill  in  drawing  and  designing,  Dunstan  was  frequently 
called  into  the  ladies’  bower  to  give  his  views  in  such 
matters.  While  they  worked,  he  sometimes  regaled  them 
with  music  from  his  harp. 

These  pleasing  views  of  the  character  and  the  employ¬ 
ments  of  the  royal  ladies  in  Anglo-Saxon  times,  seen  in 
their  simple  pursuits,  are  more  agreeable  than  the  stories 


76 


WOMAN 


of  those  who  were  engaged  in  court  intrigues,  to  relate 
which  would  necessitate  a  history  of  the  political  move¬ 
ments  of  the  day.  We  shall  later  have  ample  opportunity 
to  see  woman  as  an  influence  in  affairs  of  thrones  and 
dynasties.  For  the  present,  it  will  suffice  to  regard  royal 
woman  in  the  way  in  which  she  is  prominently  pre¬ 
sented  to  us  in  Anglo-Saxon  annals — as  the  lady  of  refined 
domesticity. 


Otf)aptcr  517 

QLl)t  OTomen  of  tijr  Englo=Nortuans 


* 


IV 

THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 

A  PICTURE  of  the  social  life  of  England  during  the  Nor¬ 
man  period  is  a  picture  of  manners  and  customs  in  a  state 
of  flux.  But  amid  all  the  instability  of  the  times,  when 
political  institutions,  laws,  customs,  and  language  were 
inchoate,  the  tendencies  were  so  marked  that  it  is  quite 
possible  to  watch  the  emergence  of  a  solidified  people. 
The  two  great  social  factors  to  be  considered  are  the 
baronial  castles  and  the  women  of  those  castles.  The 
castle  was  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
period;  its  conspicuousness  increased  as  time  went  on, 
until,  in  the  reign  of  Stephen,  there  were  no  less  than 
eleven  hundred  of  these  units  of  divided  sovereignty 
scattered  over  the  country. 

During  the  period  of  national  unsettlement  which  fol¬ 
lowed  upon  the  Conquest,  these  frowning  castles  arose; 
they  owed  their  existence  to  the  lack  of  adequate  laws  for 
the  safeguarding  of  life  and  of  property,  and  to  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  the  machinery  of  government  for  the  enforce¬ 
ment  of  law.  But,  principally,  they  represented  the  mutual 
jealousies  of  the  Norman  barons,  to  whom  had  been  ap¬ 
portioned  the  lands  of  the  Saxons — jealousies  which  found 
a  common  attraction  in  an  aversion  to  the  centralizing  of 
power  in  the  hands  of  any  monarch  who  had  ambitions  to 
be  more  than  a  superior  overlord. 


79 


8o 


WOMAN 


This  social  insecurity  was  intensified  during  the  reign  of 
William  by  the  danger  of  attack  from  the  implacable  Saxon 
bands  of  warriors  who  had  retired  into  the  swamps  and 
from  those  fastnesses  conducted  a  fierce  guerrilla  warfare 
upon  the  Normans.  So  full  of  danger  was  the  period,  that 
the  closing  of  the  castle  for  the  evening  was  always  an  occa¬ 
sion  for  serious  prayer  and  commitment  of  the  inmates  to 
Divine  protection,  as  there  was  no  knowing  but  that  before 
morning  a  besieging  force  might  appear  before  the  gates 
and  institute  all  the  horrors  of  attack  and  beleaguerment. 

The  elevation  of  woman  to  the  plane  of  companionship 
with  her  husband  was  largely  due  to  the  peculiar  condi¬ 
tions  of  the  feudal  state  of  society,  of  which  the  frowning 
castle  that  crowned  the  many  hilltops  was  the  sinister 
characteristic.  Exposed  as  she  was  to  the  same  dangers, 
and  sharing  the  responsibilities  of  her  husband,  there  was  no 
room  for  a  distinction  of  status  to  be  drawn  between  them. 
By  reason  of  environment,  wifely  equality  with  her  hus¬ 
band  was  not  a  matter  of  theoretical  but  simply  of  practical 
settlement.  It  was  needful  that  the  wife  should  be  a 
woman  of  courage  and  of  resources.  But  while  the  matter 
of  sex  did  not  constitute  a  badge  of  inferiority  in  the  home 
relations,  the  peculiar  perils  to  which  the  women  were 
exposed  constituted  an  appeal  to  manhood  that  evoked  a 
chivalrous  response;  and  when  life  became  less  hard  and 
there  was  better  opportunity  for  the  expression  of  the 
tenderer  sentiments,  this  especial  regard  for  woman  rose 
to  the  height  of  an  exalted  devotion. 

It  would  not  be  right  to  assume,  however,  that  the 
greater  prominence  and  influence  of  woman  outside  of  her 
home  was  a  sudden  emergence  from  former  conditions.  In  so 
unsettled  an  era  it  became,  however,  a  more  general,  more 
pronounced  feature.  We  may  find  an  earlier  indication  of 
the  interest  of  the  great  lady  in  the  affairs  of  her  lord  and 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


8l 


in  the  welfare  of  his  dependants,  as  well  as  of  the  advance 
of  chivalrous  sentiments,  in  the  story  of  Lady  Godiva.  It 
was  in  1040  that  Leofric,  Earl  of  Mercia,  was  besought  by 
his  wife,  who  was  remarkable  for  her  beauty  and  piety,  to 
relieve  his  tenantry  of  Coventry  of  a  heavy  toll.  Proba¬ 
bly  little  inclined  to  grant  her  request,  he  imposed  what 
he  may  have  thought  impossible  terms,  when  he  consented 
to  her  plea  on  condition  that  she  would  ride  naked  through 
the  town.  To  his  amazement,  doubtless,  the  Lady  Godiva 
accepted  the  condition;  and  Leofric  faithfully  carried  out 
his  agreement.  The  lady,  veiled  only  by  her  lovely  hair, 
rode  through  the  streets;  and  to  the  honor  of  the  good 
people  of  Coventry,  it  is  said  that  they  kept  within  doors 
and  would  not  look  upon  their  benefactress  to  embarrass 
her.  One  person  only  is  said  to  have  peeped  from  be¬ 
hind  the  curtain  of  his  window,  and  the  story  runs  that 
he  was  struck  blind,  or,  according  to  another  version,  had 
his  eyes  put  out  by  the  wrathful  people.  This  curious 
person  was  the  “  Peeping  Tom  of  Coventry,”  whose  name 
has  become  proverbial. 

Society  develops  in  strata,  so  that  the  elevation  of  the 
women  of  the  castles  did  not  enable  the  women  of  the 
hovels  to  profit  by  conditions  out  of  the  range  of  their  lives. 
The  lower  classes,  or  villains,  which  included  the  grades  of 
society  styled,  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  period,  the  freemen 
and  the  serfs,  were  the  social  antitheses  of  the  society  of 
the  castles.  The  women  of  the  lower  class  benefited  not 
at  all  by  the  new  dignity  that  was  acquired  by  the  women 
of  the  castles  during  the  feudal  regime;  in  fact,  they  suffered 
the  imposition  of  new  burdens  and  the  exactions  of  a  feudal 
practice  which  took  the  form  of  tribute,  based  on  the  per¬ 
sistent  idea  of  the  vassalage  of  their  sex.  The  great  middle 
class,  which  was  to  play  such  an  important  part  in  the 
social  and  industrial  history  of  England,  had  not  emerged 


82 


WOMAN 


as  a  separate  section  of  the  people  of  the  country.  But  what 
the  lady  of  the  Norman  castle  obtained  for  her  class  through 
one  phase  of  feudalism,  the  woman  of  the  guild  aided  in 
securing  by  another  in  the  centuries  which  marked  the  rule 
of  the  Angevin  kings;  and  in  both  Norman  and  Angevin 
times  the  influence  of  the  Church  was  constantly  on  the  side 
of  the  womanhood  of  the  country,  and  was  probably  a  more 
potent  force  than  any  other,  for  the  exaltation  of  woman 
was  the  one  policy  which  proceeded  on  fixed  principles. 

The  castles  too  often  degenerated  into  centres  of  rapine 
and  pillage;  perpetual  feuds  led  to  constant  forays,  and  no 
traveller  could  be  assured  that  he  would  not  be  set  upon  by 
one  of  these  robber  barons  and  his  band  of  retainers — little 
better  than  remorseless  banditti.  But  there  were  castles 
of  a  better  sort,  nor  were  all  knights  recreant  to  their  vows. 
In  assuming  the  obligations  of  his  order,  the  newly  vested 
knight  swore  to  defend  the  Church  against  attack  by  the 
perfidious;  venerate  the  priesthood;  repel  the  injustices  of 
the  poor;  keep  the  country  quiet;  shed  his  blood,  and  if 
necessary  lose  his  life,  for  his  brethren.  Nothing  was 
said  in  the  oath  about  devotion  to  women,  nor  was  such  a 
thing  at  first  contemplated  as  a  part  of  the  knight’s  office. 
His  office  was  a  military  one,  and  sentiment  did  not  enter 
into  it.  The  chivalrous  feature  grew  out  of  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  times — the  unprotected  situation  of  woman, 
the  fact  that  the  knight  who  enlisted  in  the  service  of  a 
baron,  and  the  baron  as  well,  often  had  to  leave  the 
women  of  their  households  dependent  for  protection  upon 
the  opportune  courtesy  of  other  knights  and  lords.  When 
the  country  had  become  more  orderly  and  manners  had 
softened,  with  the  increased  security  given  to  life  and 
property  and  the  better  means  of  obtaining  justice,  this 
chivalrous  feature  continued  and  became  prominent  in  the 
knightly  character  and  office. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


83 


'1 


In  the  early  times,  when  the  life  of  the  knight  was  of 
the  roughest,  there  were  adventurous  young  women, 
caught  by  the  excitement  it  offered,  who  donned  the 
habiliments  of  the  knight  and  plunged  into  the  dangers  of 
his  career.  The  story  is  told  of  the  quarrel  of  two  Norman 
ladies,  Eliosa  and  Isabella,  both  of  them  high-strung,  loqua¬ 
cious,  and  beautiful,  and  both  dominating  their  husbands 
by  the  forcefulness  of  their  natures.  But  while  Eliosa  was 
crafty  and  effected  her  ends  by  scheming,  Isabella  was 
generous,  courageous,  sunny-tempered,  merry,  and  con¬ 
vivial.  Each  gathered  about  her  a  band  of  knights  and 
made  war  upon  her  adversary.  Isabella  led  her  knights 
in  person,  and,  armed  as  they  were  and  as  adept  in  the 
use  of  her  weapons,  she  advanced  in  open  attack  upon  her 
foe.  Such  incidents,  though  not  usual,  were  yet  in  accord 
with  the  spirit  of  the  time. 

Every  lady  was  trained  in  the  use  of  arms  for  the.  needs 
of  her  own  protection  when  the  occasion  should  arise. 
Sometimes  the  practice  of  sword  drill  was  carried  on  in 
the  privacy  of  the  lady’s  apartment.  Thus,  it  is  related 
of  the  Lady  Beatrix — who,  by  reason  of  her  expertness 
and  her  intrepidity  in  the  actual  use  of  arms,  gained  for 
herself  the  sobriquet  La  belle  Cavalier — that  the  first  knowl¬ 
edge  that  her  brother  had  of  her  martial  proclivities  was 
when,  through  a  crevice  in  the  wall,  he  happened  to  ob¬ 
serve  her  throw  off  her  robe,  and,  taking  his  sword  out  of 
its  scabbard,  toss  it  up  into  the  air  and,  catching  it  with 
dexterity,  go  through  all  the  drill  of  a  knight  with  spirit 
and  precision;  wheeling  from  right  to  left,  advancing,  re¬ 
treating,  feinting,  and  parrying,  until  she  at  last  disarmed 
her  imaginary  foe.  We  read  of  the  Knight  of  Kenilworth 
that  he  made  a  round  table  of  one  hundred  knights  and 
ladies,  to  which  came,  for  exercise  in  arms,  persons  from 
different  parts  of  the  land. 


A 


84 


WOMAN 


In  such  setting  is  found  the  life  of  the  woman  of  the 
day.  But  below  whatever  of  chivalry  was  to  be  found  in 
this  turbulent  age,  which  extended  from  the  coming  of 
William  the  Conqueror  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Stephen, 
it  was  preeminently  a  rude,  boisterous,  and  uncultured 
era.  The  lack  of  uniformity  of  language  was  as  much 
opposed  to  the  development  of  literature  as  was  the  gen¬ 
eral  unsettled  condition  of  the  times.  Education,  slight  as 
it  was,  had  suffered  a  relapse,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
twelfth  century  that  anything  like  real  literature  was  de¬ 
veloped. 

As  the  castle  was  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  time, 
and  within  its  walls  will  be  found  much  of  the  matters  of 
interest  relating  to  the  women  of  the  day,  a  description 
of  one  of  these  domestic  fortresses  will  make  clearer  the 
customs  of  the  times  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  women 
of  the  higher  classes. 

The  site  selected  for  the  ancient  castle  was  always  a 
hilltop  or  knoll  that  lent  itself  to  ready  defence.  The  foot 
of  the  hill  was  enclosed  by  a  palisade  and  a  moat;  these 
circumvallations  frequently  rendered  successful  assault  im¬ 
possible,  and  the  only  recourse  open  to  the  attacking  force 
was  a  protracted  siege.  As  the  stranger  on  peaceful  mis¬ 
sion  bent  approached  one  of  these  massive  structures, 
rearing  its  frowning  walls  in  silhouette  against  the  blue  of 
the  sky,  he  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  majesty 
and  grandeur  of  its  walls  and  turrets.  He  would  notice 
the  round-headed  windows,  with  their  lattice  of  iron  and 
the  numerous  slitlike  openings  which  supplemented  the 
windows  for  the  access  of  light  and,  as  loopholes,  played 
an  important  part  in  the  defence  of  the  fortress.  On 
coming  to  the  gateway,  flanked  on  either  side  by  bastions, 
pierced  to  admit  of  the  flight  of  arrows,  the  warden  would 
open  to  him,  and  he  would  be  conducted  into  a  courtyard, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


85 


whose  sides  were  made  by  the  walls  of  the  hall,  the  chapel, 
the  stable,  and  the  offices.  Within  the  courtyard,  he 
would  observe  a  garden  of  herbs  and  edible  roots,  and 
also  a  fine  display  of  flowers;  perhaps,  too,  a  small  en¬ 
closure  in  the  nature  of  a  cage,  containing  a  number  of 
animals — the  trained  animal  collection  of  the  jongleurs, 
who  commonly  attached  themselves  to  the  following  of 
barons. 

On  passing  into  the  hall,  he  would  be  at  once  struck 
by  its  absolute  meagreness;  a  few  stools,  some  seats  in 
the  alcoves  of  the  wall,  a  few  forms,  some  cushions  and 
a  sideboard,  making  its  complement  of  furniture.  The 
abundance  and  beauty  of  the  plate  on  the  sideboard  might 
partially  redeem  in  his  eyes  the  barrenness  of  the  place. 
The  minstrel’s  gallery  in  the  rear  of  the  hall  would  be 
suggestive  of  the  convivial  uses  of  that  portion  of  the 
castle.  No  elaborate  draperies  would  be  seen;  some  strips 
of  dyed  canvas  upon  the  walls  alone  served  to  make  up 
for  the  lack  of  plaster,  and  to  afford  some  protection  from 
damp  and  the  spiders  whose  webs  could  be  seen  in  the 
ceiling  corners.  On  passing  out  again  into  the  courtyard, 
he  would  observe  the  tokens  of  domestic  pursuits  in  the 
kitchen  utensils  and  the  dairy  vessels  upon  benches,  and 
cloths  hung  upon  poles  above.  Passing  by  the  subsidiary 
buildings,  and  ascending  to  the  ladies’  bower  by  the  out¬ 
side  staircase,  he  would  find  a  few  more  evidences  of  com¬ 
fort  than  greeted  him  in  the  hall  below.  Instead  of  common 
canvas,  the  walls  would  be  draped  with  some  embroidered 
materials,  cushions  would  be  more  plentiful,  the  touches  of 
femininity  would  be  observed  in  various  little  elements 
of  comfort  and  adornment;  but,  with  all  this,  he  would  find 
it  dreary  enough.  Should  he  return,  however,  to  this 
boudoir  when  the  ladies  were  gathered  for  their  after¬ 
noon’s  sewing,  the  scene  would  make  up  in  animation 


86 


WOMAN 


what  it  lacked  in  attractiveness  of  surroundings.  On 
going  into  the  bedchamber,  a  glance  would  reveal  its  con¬ 
tents.  Seats  in  the  wall,  a  stool,  a  curiously  shaped  bed, 
candelabra,  and  two  projecting  poles,  the  one  for  falcons 
and  the  other  for  clothes,  would  complete  the  sum  of  its 
furniture.  The  bed  furnishings  would  consist  of  a  drapery, 
pendent  from  an  odd  roof,  rather  than  a  canopy,  over  the 
bed.  The  bed  would  look  to  him  comfortable  enough, 
with  its  quilted  feathers  and  pillow  attached,  and,  over 
these,  sheets  of  silk  or  of  linen,  and  over  all  a  coverlet  of 
haircloth,  or  of  woollen  fabric,  lined  with  skins.  One  com- 
partmented  bed  fixture,  with  its  curious  divisions,  was 
thought  to  afford  sufficient  privacy  for  honored  guests 
of  different  sexes,  who  were  all  cared  for  in  the  same 
chamber;  if  the  number  of  the  guests  and  of  the  house¬ 
hold  was  large,  several  bed  fixtures  or  bedsteads  might  be 
observed.  The  servants  slept  indiscriminately  in  the 
hall  below. 

Such  was  the  simplicity  of  the  interior  arrangements 
and  furnishings  of  the  castle.  But  within  these  rooms, 
devoid  of  many  of  the  ordinary  comforts  of  modern  life 
and  altogether  lacking  in  its  luxuries,  assembled  women 
who  prided  themselves  on  their  noble  estate  and  extrac¬ 
tion;  here,  too,  were  held  many  assemblies  of  state;  kings 
in  their  progresses  through  their  kingdom  tarried  for  enter¬ 
tainment,  bringing  with  them  magnificent  retinues.  Feasts 
and  social  functions  called  forth  all  the  highbred  graces  of 
the  fair  hostess  and  made  the  castle  a  scene  of  merriment 
and  of  joyous  conviviality.  Here,  too,  were  held  orgies  of 
drunkenness  and  of  depravity;  intrigues  smouldered  within 
these  walls,  to  break  out  into  an  open  flame  of  rebellion; 
while  dramas  of  noble  self-abnegation  and  plightings  of 
faithful  love  were  enacted  there  as  well.  Amid  all  these 
scenes  moved  the  lady  of  the  castle. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


87 


A  few  of  the  typical  views  of  castle  life  in  which  the 
women  figured  conspicuously  will  serve  to  give  a  more 
particular  setting  to  the  general  idea  of  their  status  and 
employments.  While  men  gave  themselves  up  to  feats  of 
arms,  the  women  had  the  task  of  hospitably  entertaining 
the  guests  who  frequented  the  castles;  in  the  interim  of 
these  festivities  and  the  exacting  care  of  a  host  of  ser¬ 
vants,  they  applied  themselves  assiduously  to  needle¬ 
work,  and  in  no  other  way  does  the  woman  of  the  times 
appear  in  so  pleasant  a  light  as  when  thus  engaged.  Her 
facility  in  lace  and  embroidery  work  is  not  attested  alone 
by  contemporary  writers,  but  has  come  down  to  us  in  its 
finest  expression.  The  famous  Bayeux  tapestry,  possibly 
the  most  ingenious  specimen  of  needlework  that  the  world 
has  known,  calls  up  the  most  interesting  of  the  castle 
scenes  as  related  to  woman.  It  is  the  expression  of  the 
artistic  and  historical  sense  of  Matilda,  the  wife  of  Wil¬ 
liam  I.  In  some  such  lady’s  bower  as  has  been  described, 
the  fair  queen  assembled  the  ladies  of  her  court,  and  the 
Bayeux  tapestry  was  created  amid  the  interchange  of 
small  talk,  becoming  more  serious  as  at  times  the  figures 
of  the  pattern  recalled  some  particular  horror  of  personal 
loss  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  ladies  present,  entailed  by 
the  great  battle  whose  glory  was  the  central  theme  of  their 
labors.  With  womanly  self-effacement,  they  had  in  mind 
only  those  whose  deeds  were  in  this  unique  manner  to 
be  handed  down  to  posterity,  and  had  no  thought  of  the 
monument  to  womanly  devotion  that  they  were  erecting 
for  the  honor  of  the  sex.  Every  scene  involved  the  per¬ 
petuation  of  the  memories  and  the  valor  of  those  who  were 
dear  to  them;  and  as  the  record  passed  into  the  embroidered 
pattern,  it  was  dwelt  upon  with  words  of  glowing  pride. 
In  some  such  way  took  shape  the  picture-history  of  the 
event  that  found  its  consummation  in  the  battle  of  Senlac. 


88 


WOMAN 


By  its  wealth  and  accuracy  of  detail,  this  monument  of 
woman’s  skill  became  a  historical  document  of  the  first 
order  for  the  period  to  which  it  relates.  But  to  the  student 
of  the  English  woman  its  chief  value  must  lie  in  its  reve¬ 
lation  of  the  depth  of  the  pride  and  devotion  to  husbands, 
brothers,  and  lovers  that  it  reveals — devotion  to  the  living 
and  the  dead  alike,  which  is  the  secret  of  its  reverent 
accuracy,  excluding  as  it  does  vainglorious  exaggeration. 
It  thus  becomes  a  memorial  of  deeds  of  valor  and  of  defeat, 
of  triumph  and  of  death;  a  monument  to  the  Norman,  but, 
unwittingly,  a  monument  to  the  defeated  Saxon  as  well. 

We  are  reminded  by  this  historic  tapestry  of  the  pathetic 
story  of  Edith  of  the  Swan’s  Neck.  King  Harold  had  been 
slain  on  the  battlefield  by  a  Norman  arrow  which  had 
pierced  his  brain.  His  mother  and  the  Abbot  of  Wal¬ 
tham  had  successfully  pleaded  with  Harold’s  victorious 
rival  for  permission  to  bury  the  king  within  the  abbey. 
Two  Saxon  monks,  Osgod  and  Ail  rick,  were  deputed  by 
the  Abbot  of  Waltham  to  search  for  and  bring  to  the 
abbey  the  body  of  their  benefactor.  Failing  to  identify  on 
the  field  of  Senlac  (Hastings)  the  bodies  denuded  of  armor 
and  clothing,  they  applied  to  a  woman  whom  Harold,  before 
he  was  king,  had  had  for  a  companion,  and  begged  her  to 
assist  them  in  their  search.  She  was  called  Edith,  and 
surnamed  la  belle  au  cou  de  cygne.  Edith  consented  to  aid 
the  two  monks,  and  readily  discovered  the  body  of  him 
who  had  been  her  lover. 

The  queen  who  conceived  and  furthered  the  execution 
of  the  Bayeux  tapestry  was  representative  of  the  best 
type  of  Norman  womanhood.  Her  devotion  to  her  hus¬ 
band  was  proverbial,  and  his  faithfulness  to  her  has  never 
been  questioned.  Intrigues  among  persons  who  could  not 
brook  the  moral  atmosphere  of  a  court  such  as  Matilda 
maintained  were  common  enough,  and  the  envious  breath 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


89 


of  scandal  even  sought  to  shake  the  confidence  of  her  royal 
husband  in  her;  but  all  such  attempts  were  unavailing. 
Matilda  became  in  every  sense  the  consort  of  William,  and 
thus  marked  a  forward  step  for  the  womanhood  of  the 
country.  Without  such  recognition  of  the  wife  of  Wil¬ 
liam  I.,  England  would  never  have  had  the  brilliant  and 
versatile  Elizabeth  or  the  wise  and  womanly  Victoria  to 
number  among  the  great  examples  of  high  worth  which 
make  the  list  of  England’s  notable  women  one  of  the  chief 
glories  of  her  history.  As  the  manners  of  the  court  affect 
the  standard  of  the  nation,  that  the  tone  of  the  times  was 
not  lower  in  an  age  of  turbulence,  when  moral  standards 
were  debased,  must  be  to  some  extent  accredited  to  the 
example  of  the  queen. 

When  Matilda  died,  the  country  was  still  rent  by  fierce 
hatreds  and  passionate  outbursts;  the  unplacated  Saxon 
had  been  little  influenced  by  her.  It  was  reserved  for 
another  Matilda,  the  wife  of  Henry  I.,  to  aid  in  healing  the 
breach,  and,  by  uniting  the  discordant  elements,  put  the 
country  in  a  position  for  the  development  of  those  arts  of 
civilization  which  only  can  flourish  in  an  atmosphere  of 
peace.  When  Matilda,  then  a  religieuse,  was  adjudged  by 
the  Church  authorities  not  to  have  taken  the  veil,  or  to 
have  assumed  the  vows  that  would  have  severed  her  from 
the  world  and  committed  her  to  a  life  of  virginity,  she 
reluctantly  heeded  the  clamor  of  the  Saxon  element  of  the 
people,  and  yielded  to  the  importunities  of  Henry  to  be¬ 
come  his  wife  and  the  country’s  queen.  So  was  secured 
to  the  land  a  queen  in  whose  veins  ran  Saxon  blood  and 
who  had  received  an  Anglo-Saxon  education.  Through 
her  influence,  many  salutary  laws  were  enacted  to  relieve 
the  disabilities  of  the  people.  The  wives  and  daughters  of 
the  Saxons  were  secured  from  insult;  the  poor  and  honest 
trader  was  assured  equity  in  his  business  transactions, 


90 


WOMAN 


and  other  matters  of  equal  import  owed  their  enactment 
to  the  kindly  disposed  queen.  In  this  manner  were 
allayed  animosities  which  had  continued  to  smoulder  under 
a  sense  of  repeated  injustices,  and  with  the  growth  of 
mutual  confidence  there  came  about  an  identity  of  aspira¬ 
tion  and  effort  on  the  part  of  the  two  elements  of  the 
population.  Intermarriage  facilitated  this  happy  tendency, 
and  the  perseverance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue,  modified 
indeed  by  Norman  admixture,  did  much  for  its  furtherance. 
Thus,  the  two  peoples  gradually  fused  into  one  nation. 
That  Matilda  did  much  to  secure  this  desirable  end  entitles 
her  to  be  regarded  as  the  mother  of  reconciliation. 

The  Norman  ladies  of  rank  came  under  the  influence  of 
the  queen,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  to  find  them,  like 
the  Anglo-Saxon  ladies,  engaged  in  the  profitable  concerns 
of  the  poultry  yard  and  the  dairy,  instead  of  giving  them¬ 
selves  up  to  court  intrigues.  The  two  Matildas  represent 
the  best  element  of  the  noble  womanhood  of  the  day; 
neither  of  them  was  faultless,  and  the  first  was  charged 
with  an  act  of  vindictiveness  toward  a  Saxon  who  spurned 
her  love  that  ill  comports  with  the  accepted  estimate  of  her 
amiability  and  worth;  but  while  not  impeccable,  yet  both 
reflected  in  their  lives  the  signal  qualities  which,  when 
illustrated  in  times  adverse  to  them,  ennoble  the  sex. 

Returning  to  the  employments  of  the  ladies  of  the  cas¬ 
tles,  the  most  typical  of  these  as  illustrating  the  manners 
of  the  times,  next  to  the  industry  of  the  bower,  was  the 
hospitality  of  the  hall.  The  hostess  took  her  place  beside 
her  lord,  by  virtue  of  her  recognized  equality  of  position, 
and  directed  the  movements  of  the  servants,  who  were 
kept  busily  employed  passing  around  the  dishes — the  meat 
being  served  upon  the  spits,  from  which  the  guests  might 
carve  what  they  pleased.  No  forks  were  used  at  the 
table,  fingers  answering  every  purpose.  On  very  great 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


91 


occasions  the  piece  de  resistance  was  a  boar’s  head,  which 
was  brought  into  the  hall  with  a  fanfare  of  trumpets,  the 
guests  greeting  its  appearance  with  noisy  demonstrations. 
Another  delicacy,  which  a  hostess  was  always  pleased  to 
serve  to  persons  of  consequence,  was  peacock.  The  pres¬ 
ence  of  this  bird  was  the  signal  for  the  nobility  to  pledge 
themselves  afresh  to  deeds  of  knightly  valor.  Cranes 
formed  another  of  the  unusual  dishes  generally  found  at 
these  state  banquets.  As  the  dinner  proceeded,  the  thirst 
of  the  company  was  assuaged  by  copious  draughts  of  ale 
or  mead  and  of  spiced  wines.  That  such  festivities  inva¬ 
riably  developed  scenes  of  hilarity  and  disorder  was  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  and  it  was  not  a  strange  thing  to  see 
the  valorous  knights,  under  the  mellowing  influence  of 
too  frequent  potations,  indulge  in  such  disgraceful  acts  as 
throwing  bones  about  the  room  and  at  one  another,  until 
these  bone  battles  passed  into  more  serious  fracases.  The 
woman  of  refinement  had  reason  to  dread  these  carnivals 
of  gluttony  and  debauch;  and  when  they  became  too  offen¬ 
sive,  she  sought  the  seclusion  of  her  private  apartments. 

All  the  while  the  minstrels  played  their  instruments 
and  sang  their  songs,  often  improvising  from  incidents  in 
the  careers  of  those  present,  or  taking  for  a  theme  some 
vaunting  sentiment  to  which  a  cup-valorous  knight  gave 
expression.  No  bounds  of  propriety  were  observed  in  the 
theme  or  in  its  treatment  by  these  paid  entertainers. 

As  the  dishes  were  brought  in,  amid  the  rude  songs  and 
coarse  jests  of  these  jongleurs,  another  company,  even 
more  reprobate  than  they,  gathered  about  the  hall  door 
and  sought  to  snatch  the  dishes  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
servants.  These  were  the  ribalds  or  letchers — a  set  of 
degraded  hangers-on  at  the  castle,  lost  to  all  self-respect 
and  ready  for  any  base  deed  that  might  be  required  of 
them.  To  them  was  allotted  the  refuse  of  the  feast. 


92 


WOMAN 


A  vivid  picture  of  a  wedding  banquet  of  the  times  is 
afforded  in  a  scene  from  the  earlier  career  of  Hereward, 
the  last  of  patriotic  leaders  of  the  Saxons.  The  daughter 
of  a  Cornish  chief  had  been  affianced  to  one  of  her  country¬ 
men,  who  was  notoriously  wicked  and  tyrannical;  but  she 
herself  had  pledged  her  affections  to  an  Irish  prince.  Here¬ 
ward,  who  was  a  guest  in  the  country  of  Cornwall,  became 
an  object  of  hatred  to  the  Cornish  bully,  who  picked  a 
quarrel  with  him  and  in  the  encounter  was  slain.  This 
awakened  a  spirit  of  vengeance  among  his  fellows,  and  it 
was  only  through  the  assistance  of  the  young  princess 
that  Hereward  was  enabled  to  escape  from  the  prison 
where  he  had  been  confined  and  to  flee  the  country.  He 
carried  with  him  a  tender  message  from  the  lady  to  her 
Irish  suitor.  In  the  latter’s  absence  she  was  again  be¬ 
trothed  by  her  father,  and  sent  a  messenger  to  notify  her 
lover  of  the  near  approach  of  the  wedding.  He  sent  forty 
messengers  to  her  father  to  demand  his  daughter’s  hand 
by  virtue  of  a  promise  one  time  made  to  him.  These 
were  put  in  prison.  Hereward  doubted  the  success  of  the 
lover’s  embassage;  and  having  dyed  his  skin  and  colored 
his  hair,  he  made  his  way,  with  three  companions,  to  the 
young  lady’s  home,  arriving  there  the  day  of  the  nuptial 
feast.  The  next  day,  when  she  was  to  be  conducted  to  her 
husband’s  dwelling,  Hereward  and  his  companions  entered 
the  hall,  and,  as  strangers,  came  under  especial  observa¬ 
tion.  He  saw  the  eyes  of  the  princess  fixed  upon  him  as 
though  she  penetrated  his  disguise;  and  as  if  moved  by  the 
recollections  his  presence  awakened,  she  burst  into  tears. 

As  was  the  custom  of  the  times,  the  bride,  in  her  wed¬ 
ding  costume,  assisted  by  her  maidens,  served  the  cup  to 
the  guests  before  she  left  her  father’s  home;  and  the 
harper,  following,  played  before  each  guest  as  he  was 
served.  Hereward  had  registered  an  oath  not  to  receive 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


93 


anything  at  the  hands  of  a  lady  until  it  was  proffered  by 
the  princess  herself.  So,  when  the  cup  was  offered  to 
him  by  a  maiden,  he  refused  it  with  abruptness,  and  de¬ 
clined  to  listen  to  the  harper.  His  rude  conduct  raised  a 
tumult  of  excitement  and  indignation,  whereupon  the  prin¬ 
cess  herself  approached  him  and  offered  the  cup,  which  he 
received  with  courtesy.  The  princess,  entirely  confirmed 
in  her  suspicions  as  to  his  identity,  threw  a  ring  into  his 
bosom,  and,  turning  to  the  company,  craved  indulgence 
for  the  stranger,  who  was  not  acquainted  with  their  cus¬ 
toms.  The  minstrel  remained  sullen,  whereupon  Here- 
ward  seized  his  harp  and  played  with  such  exquisite  skill 
as  to  awaken  the  astonishment  of  the  company.  As  he 
played  and  sang,  his  companions,  “after  the  manner  of 
the  Saxons,”  joined  in  at  intervals;  whereupon  the  prin¬ 
cess,  to  help  him  in  his  assumed  character,  presented  him 
the  rich  cloak  which  was  the  reward  of  the  minstrel. 
Suspicions  as  to  his  real  character  were  not,  however, 
entirely  allayed;  and  these  were  increased  by  his  request 
to  the  father  of  the  bride  for  the  release  of  the  Irish  mes¬ 
sengers. 

Finding  that  he  had  endangered  his  safety  and  the  suc¬ 
cess  of  his  plans  by  his  indiscretion,  Hereward  slipped 
away  unobserved,  and,  with  his  companions,  lay  in  am¬ 
bush  the  next  day  along  the  road  by  which  he  knew  the 
bride  would  be  conducted  by  her  father  to  her  new  home. 
As  the  bridal  procession  passed,  and  with  it  the  Irish  pris¬ 
oners,  Hereward  rushed  out  upon  the  unsuspecting  com¬ 
pany;  and  while  his  companions  released  the  prisoners,  he 
seized  the  lady  and  bore  her  away  in  true  knightly  fashion. 
It  may  well  be  believed  that  the  bride  was  soon  united  in 
wedlock  to  the  husband  of  her  choice. 

One  other  circumstance  in  the  history  of  this  man, 
whose  life  was  a  series  of  bold  undertakings,  serves  to 


94 


WOMAN 


illustrate  the  superstitions  of  the  times.  When  King  Wil¬ 
liam  had  besieged  the  island  of  Ely,  which  was  the  head¬ 
quarters  of  Hereward  and  his  large  following  of  Saxon 
warriors,  and  had  failed  to  subdue  them,  he  gave  heed  to 
the  counsel  of  one  of  his  courtiers,  to  have  recourse  to  a 
celebrated  witch  for  aid  in  the  destruction  of  his  foes. 
Hereward,  to  spy  upon  his  adversary  and  discover  his 
plans,  disguised  himself  as  a  potter,  and  stopped  at  the 
house  of  the  old  woman  whose  magic  was  to  be  used 
against  him;  that  night  he  followed  her  and  another  crone 
out  into  the  fields,  where  they  engaged  in  their  curious 
rites.  From  their  conversation  he  learned  of  the  scheme 
against  him,  which  was  to  have  a  platform  erected  in  the 
marshes  surrounding  the  island;  the  hag  was  to  repeat 
thrice  her  charm,  when  he  and  his  followers  would  be  de¬ 
stroyed.  Accordingly,  when  the  platform  was  erected  and 
the  besiegers  drew  as  near  as  they  could,  expectantly  await¬ 
ing  Hereward’s  destruction,  he  and  his  companions,  under 
the  cover  of  the  brush,  crept  close  to  the  platform  and, 
taking  advantage  of  the  favorable  direction  of  the  wind,  set 
fire  to  the  reeds.  The  witch,  who  was  about  to  repeat 
her  charm  for  the  third  time,  leaped  from  the  platform  in 
terror,  and  was  killed,  while  in  the  panic  many  of  the 
soldiers  lost  their  lives  by  fire  or  by  water.  The  scene 
here  depicted  bears  a  remarkable  similarity  to  the  weird 
rites  of  the  ancient  British  Druidesses,  and  doubtless  rep¬ 
resents  a  continuance  of  the  mysteries  of  that  order,  which 
came  down  in  forms  of  magic  and  witchcraft  through  many 
centuries. 

This  glimpse  of  the  witchcraft  that  was  to  become  more 
prominent,  or  at  least  with  which  we  become  more  famil¬ 
iar  at  a  later  period,  will  suffice  to  show  that  the  plane  of 
-  general  intelligence  was  not  yet  high.  Education  was 
limited  to  subjects  that  have  no  special  interest  for  us 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


95 


to-day.  Such  as  it  was,  it  was  accessible  to  the  lower 
classes  as  well  as  to  the  upper.  There  were  schools  con¬ 
nected  with  the  churches  and  the  monasteries.  Appar¬ 
ently,  there  was  no  distinction  in  the  subjects  pursued  by 
the  sexes,  excepting  in  the  case  of  the  nobility,  whose 
sons  were  trained  for  the  positions  they  were  to  occupy. 
It  would  appear  that  some  priests  were  so  zealous  for  the 
prosperity  of  their  schools  that  they  sought  to  entice  schol¬ 
ars  from  other  schools  to  their  own.  A  law  to  correct  the 
practice  provided  “that  no  priest  receive  another’s  scholar 
without  leave  of  him  whom  he  had  previously  followed.” 
Latin  was  in  the  list  of  the  studies  pursued  by  the  ladies, 
but  few  could  read  in  the  vernacular. 

At  that  day  there  was  the  same  tendency  that  is  famil¬ 
iar  to-day, — to  cast  alleged  feminine  inconsistencies  into 
the  form  of  adages.  One  of  these  proverbs  is  found  in 
the  instructions  of  a  baron  who  was  counselling  his  son  on 
his  going  out  from  the  paternal  roof:  “  If  you  should  know 
anything  that  you  would  wish  to  conceal,”  says  this  gen- 
eralizer  from  a  personal  experience,  “tell  it  by  no  means 
to  your  wife,  if  you  have  one;  for  if  you  let  her  know  it, 
you  will  repent  of  it  the  first  time  you  displease  her.” 

The  amusements  that  were  popular  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
days  continued  during  the  Norman  period,  but  hunting 
and  hawking,  by  reason  of  the  stringent  game  laws,  were 
sports  practically  limited  to  the  upper  class.  The  lady 
kept  her  falcons  and  knew  well  how  to  set  them  on  the 
quarry,  and  with  the  men  she  could  ride  in  the  hunt  to 
the  baying  of  the  hounds.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
with  women  the  usual  method  of  riding  was  on  a  side¬ 
saddle;  seldom  are  they  found  seated  otherwise  in  the 
representations  of  riding  scenes.  Among  all  classes  dan¬ 
cing  seems  to  have  been  in  favor.  The  exercise  was 
more  graceful  and  intricate  than  the  dance  of  the  Saxons. 


96 


WOMAN 


Among  the  young  people  of  the  lower  classes  it  was  the 
chief  amusement,  and  was  attended  by  much  mirth  and 
boisterousness.  Games  of  chance  were  popular  among 
both  sexes,  and  chess  was  a  favorite  pastime. 

The  art  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  gleemen  and  maidens  under 
the  Normans  was  represented  by  two  classes  of  public 
entertainers,  the  minstrels  and  the  jongleurs.  The  min¬ 
strels  confined  themselves  for  the  most  part  to  music  and 
poetry;  while  the  jongleurs  were  the  jugglers,  tricksters, 
and  exhibitors  of  trained  animals.  But  the  distinction  was 
not  sharply  drawn,  although  in  general  the  minstrels  were 
considered  to  afford  a  higher  form  of  entertainment  than 
did  the  jongleurs.  Both  sexes  were  represented  in  these 
bands  of  itinerant  amusement  purveyors.  Companies  of 
them  were  more  or  less  permanently  attached  to  the  reti¬ 
nues  of  the  great  barons,  for  the  whiling  away  of  the 
long  evenings  and  the  entertainment  of  the  guests.  The 
sentiments  of  the  songs  and  stories  of  these  people  were 
full  of  suggestiveness  and  coarseness.  The  merry  and 
licentious  lives  of  the  disreputable  traffickers  in  amuse¬ 
ment  brought  them  under  moral  reprobation,  even  in  that 
rude  age.  They  drew  into  their  ranks  many  persons  of 
depraved  life,  who,  when  the  times  improved,  contributed, 
by  their  abandon,  to  create  sentiment  against  all  profligate 
strollers.  Yet  these  minstrels  represented  the  beginnings 
of  music  and  of  vernacular  literature  after  the  conquest  of 
England. 

In  the  matter  of  dress  there  was  a  marked  departure 
from  the  Anglo-Saxon  costume,  which  varied  little.  Just 
as  long  as  England  was  not  in  touch  with  continental  ideas 
and  customs,  the  women  of  the  country  wore  the  costumes 
of  their  ancestors.  That  dress  is  cosmopolitan  never 
entered  into  their  conceptions,  any  more  than  it  does  into 
those  of  any  of  the  Eastern  nations  who  in  modern  times 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


97 


have  been  brought  suddenly  into  the  stream  of  European 
customs  and  manners.  But  with  the  coming  of  the  Nor¬ 
mans,  national  conservatism  yielded  to  comparison  with 
the  fashions  of  other  peoples,  and  fashion  assumed  the 
sceptre  that  it  has  continued  to  wield  over  the  English 
woman.  The  changes  in  dress  were  at  first  slight,  but  by 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  they  had  become  sufficiently 
marked  to  be  the  target  of  witticism  and  the  subject  of 
satire.  The  foibles  of  the  women  were  little  regarded  by 
the  writers  of  the  time.  The  dress  of  the  men  was  not 
passed  over  in  like  silence,  however;  it  drew  from  the 
censors  of  the  day  the  severest  strictures  on  account  of  its 
flaunting  meagreness  and  its  improprieties  in  the  eyes  of 
its  monkish  critics.  The  same  condemnation  was  visited 
upon  the  practice  of  the  men  of  dyeing  their  hair  or  other¬ 
wise  coloring  it,  wearing  flowing  locks,  and  painting  their 
faces.  Such  fashions  were  styled  reprehensible  and  effemi¬ 
nate.  It  would  have  been  instructive  to  subsequent  gen¬ 
erations  if  these  censorious  critics  had  not  been  so  gallant 
toward  women,  and  had  given  to  us  the  spicy  descriptions 
of  feminine  attire  that,  in  their  indignation,  they  have 
afforded  us  of  that  of  the  men.  Had  they  but  realized  that 
it  was  the  sex  whose  sins  of  dress  they  passed  over  so 
lightly,  with  charity  or  indifference,  that  was  to  follow 
the  inconsequential  wake  of  fashion  into  the  wildest  vaga¬ 
ries  of  costume  and  adornment,  they  would  have  let  the 
men  have  their  brief  day,  and  massed  their  strictures 
against  those  who  were  to  elevate  fashion  to  an  art  and 
make  of  its  following  a  devotion.  As  it  is,  for  our  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  dress  of  the  weaker  sex  we  are  dependent 
upon  the  illuminations,  whose  brilliant  coloring  and  faith¬ 
fulness  of  detail  left  little  for  the  text  to  elucidate.  That 
the  new  styles  were  not  received  with  approbation  by  the 
clerical  artists  is  clear  enough  from  the  caricatures  and 


98 


WOMAN 


exaggerations  of  them  that  appear  in  their  drawings.  The 
inordinate  length  of  the  sleeves,  reaching  as  they  did,  in  a 
long,  mandolin-shaped  pocket,  to  the  knees  of  the  wearer, 
made  them  surely  hideous  enough  to  draw  out  the  indig¬ 
nation  of  those  who  had  artistic  sensibilities  to  be  shocked. 

That  the  notion  of  fashionable  dress  as  Satanic  is  very 
old  is  shown  by  one  of  the  representations  of  his  infernal 
majesty,  where  he.  is  portrayed  dressed  in  the  height  of 
feminine  fashion.  One  of  the  sleeves  of  his  gown  is  short 
and  full,  while  the  other,  in  caricature  of  the  style  of  the 
day,  is  so  long  that  it  has  to  be  tied  in  a  knot  to  get  it  out 
of  the  way.  The  gown,  also,  being  of  impossible  length  and 
fulness,  is  disposed  of  by  the  simple  expedient  of  knotting. 

In  the  dress  of  Satan,  as  an  exponent  of  the  iniquity  of 
feminine  attire,  there  also  appears  unmistakable  evidence 
of  a  tight  bodice  of  stays,  the  lacing  of  which,  after  draw¬ 
ing  his  majesty’s  waist  into  approved  dimensions,  hangs 
carelessly  down  to  view  and  terminates  in  a  tag.  As  stays 
were  not  commonly  worn,  and  as  a  writer  at  a  little  later 
time  is  found  vehemently  inveighing  against  them,  it  is 
fair  to  conclude  that  their  presence  on  Satan  is  to  indicate, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  better  element  of  the  day,  the  indelicacy 
and  impropriety  of  their  use.  Ridiculous  and  unsightly 
as  were  the  long  sleeves  and  other  novelties  of  dress,  the 
particular  displeasure  with  which  they  were  regarded  by 
the  element  whose  views  the  ecclesiastics  reflected  must 
be  attributed  somewhat  to  their  foreign  origin.  Although 
they  were  introduced  into  the  country  by  the  Normans, 
the  long  sleeves,  at  least,  appear  to  have  originated  in 
Italy.  Down  to  the  twelfth  century,  there  was  sufficient 
conservatism  remaining  to  deprecate  the  introduction  of 
foreign  novelties,  just  as  in  Elizabeth’s  days  the  econo¬ 
mists  strongly  protested  against  bringing  into  the  country 
“foreign  gewgaws.” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


99 


The  girdle  remained  a  part  of  the  dress  of  the  women, 
although  it  was  not  so  much  in  evidence  as  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  time.  It  was  probably  worn  under  the  gown,  and 
in  some  cases  may  have  been  dispensed  with.  That  queens 
and  princesses,  however,  wore  very  fine  girdles,  orna¬ 
mented  with  pearls  and  precious  stones,  is  abundantly 
attested  by  the  contemporary  writers. 

The  mantle  was  the  most  changeful  article  of  dress  at 
this  period.  Sometimes  it  was  worn  in  the  old  way,  being 
put  on  by  passing  the  head  through  an  aperture  made  for 
that  purpose;  but  more  often  it  was  worn  opening  down 
the  front  and  fastened  at  the  throat  by  an  embroidered 
collar  clasped  by  a  brooch.  Again,  it  was  fastened  in  a 
similar  way  at  the  throat,  but  covered  only  one  side  of 
the  form,  falling  coquettishly  over  the  shoulder  and  hang¬ 
ing  down  the  side.  A  particularly  pleasing  effect  was  ob¬ 
tained  by  having  it  fasten  at  the  throat  by  a  collar,  whose 
rich,  gold-embroidered  border  continued  down  the  front  to 
the  waist.  Sometimes  the  garment  was  sleeveless,  and 
again  it  was  worn  with  short  sleeves,  or  sleeves  long 
and  full.  For  winter  wear,  it  covered  the  form  entirely 
and  terminated  in  a  hood.  These  mantles  were  often  of 
the  finest  imported  textiles,  embroidered  in  elegant  figures 
and  with  richly  wrought  borders,  and  were  lined  through¬ 
out  with  costly  furs. 

The  kerchief,  like  the  mantle,  quite  lost  its  conventional 
style  in  the  period  we  are  describing,  and  was  often  omitted 
altogether.  It  was  usually  worn  over  the  head,  and  hang¬ 
ing  down  to  the  right  breast,  while  the  end  on  the  left  side 
was  gathered  about  the  neck  and  thrown  over  the  right 
shoulder.  Sometimes  it  was  gathered  in  fulness  upon  the 
head  and  bound  there  by  a  diadem,  though  otherwise  worn 
as  just  described.  Toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century 
it  became  much  smaller,  and  was  tied  under  the  chin, 


100 


WOMAN 


looking  very  much  like  an  infant’s  cap.  The  women’s 
shoes  were  very  much  the  same  as  those  worn  by  the 
Anglo-Saxons.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the  stockings  were 
close-fitting  and  short,  as  was  the  style  among  the  men. 

There  were  different  ways  of  wearing  the  hair,  but  the 
most  usual  was  to  have  it  parted  in  front  and  flowing 
loosely  down  the  back,  with  a  lock  on  either  side  falling 
over  the  shoulders  and  upon  the  breast;  this  was  the  style 
for  young  girls  especially.  Another  fashion  was  to  have 
it  fall  down  the  back  in  two  masses,  where  it  was  wrapped 
by  ribbons  and  so  bound  into  tails.  Young  girls  never 
wore  a  headdress  of  any  sort.  On  reaching  maturity,  it 
was  usual  for  the  women  to  enclose  their  hair  in  a  net, 
with  a  kerchief  cap  drawn  tightly  over  it. 

The  ornaments  in  use  need  no  particular  description, 
because  of  their  similarity  to  those  worn  during  the 
Anglo-Saxon  period.  Crowns  were,  of  course,  the  chief 
adornments  of  queens  on  state  occasions;  circlets  of  gold, 
elegantly  patterned,  formed  the  diadems  of  the  noble  ladies; 
and  half-circlets  of  gold,  connected  behind,  constituted  the 
distinctive  headdress  of  women  of  wealth.  Rings,  armlets, 
and  necklaces,  as  well  as  the  generally  serviceable  brooch, 
were  in  use. 

Turning  from  the  fashions  of  the  wealthy  to  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  poor,  what  a  difference  appears!  The  age  was 
one  of  sharp  contrasts;  for  while  gayety  reigned  in  the 
high  circles  of  court  and  castle,  wretchedness  was  more 
usual  in  the  hovels  with  their  mud  walls  and  thatched 
roofs,  to  which  nature  may  have  added  the  gracious  garni¬ 
ture  of  herbs,  mosses,  and  lichens.  But  it  would  be  too 
much  to  assume  that  the  persons  of  humble  estate  were 
not  happy  in  their  own  way.  Lacking  the  luxuries  of  the 
table  and  the  fine  attire  of  the  ladies  of  the  castles,  life 
still  had  for  them  many  elements  of  pure  joy.  But  while 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS 


IOI 


the  women  of  the  lower  ranks  would  have  contrasted  well 
in  the  matter  of  morals  with  the  women  of  the  nobility, 
yet  no  more  then  than  now  was  virtue  the  exclusive 
possession  of  any  class. 

The  monasteries  were  not  only  centres  of  culture,  but 
were  also  the  great  distributing  centres  of  charity,  the 
nuns  being  looked  upon  as  the  especial  friends  of  the  poor. 
We  hear  little  of  complaint  against  the  character  of  these 
houses  at  this  time,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  rules  for  their 
direction  had  become  efficacious  for  the  establishing  of  a 
discipline  sufficiently  rigid,  on  the  whole,  to  ensure  exem¬ 
plary  character.  Many  penances  and  mortifications  were 
imposed  on  the  nuns,  besides  others  which  were  volun¬ 
tarily  assumed.  In  a  book  of  rules  published  at  this  time 
appears  the  following,  which  seems  to  indicate  that  even 
sunshine  savored  too  much  of  worldliness  for  the  occupants 
of  the  religious  houses:  “My  dear  sisters,  love  your  win¬ 
dows  as  little  as  you  may,  and  let  them  be  small,  and  the 
parlor’s  the  narrowest;  let  the  cloth  in  them  be  twofold, 
black  cloth,  the  cross  white  within  and  without.”  It  may 
be,  however,  that  it  was  not  too  much  sunlight  that  was 
to  be  avoided,  but  men,  who  sought  to  converse  with  the 
nuns  at  their  windows.  This  indeed  appears  to  be  the 
true  meaning  of  the  recommendation,  as  is  indicated  by 
another  enjoinment:  “If  any  man  become  so  mad  and  un¬ 
reasonable  that  he  put  forth  his  hand  toward  the  window 
cloth,  shut  the  window  quickly  and  leave  him.” 

Besides  the  nuns,  whose  office  dedicated  them  to  acts 
of  charity,  many  of  the  noble  ladies  found  pleasure  in 
alleviating  the  afflictions  of  the  poor.  In  their  care  of  the 
distressed  they  were  incited  to  acts  of  humility  by  the  very 
high  value  that  the  Church  placed  upon  the  performance 
of  such  deeds.  Matilda,  the  good  wife  of  Henry  I.,  had 
the  training  of  the  monastery  in  developing  her  benevolent 


102 


WOMAN 


instincts,  and  set  an  example  to  the  ladies  of  her  court  by 
establishing  the  leper  hospital  of  Saint  Giles;  there  she 
herself  washed  the  feet  of  lepers,  esteeming  such  lowly 
service  as  done  unto  Christ.  In  a  hard  and  cruel  age,  the 
gentler  sentiments  common  to  womanly  nature,  especially 
when  under  the  influence  of  Christian  feeling,  poured  them¬ 
selves  out  in  a  wealth  of  affection  upon  those  who  were 
stricken  and  left  helpless  by  the  hardness  of  the  times. 


(ffljapter  V 

®()e  ®3Romen  of  tfjc  jftftfolile  &ges 


_ 


s\ 


_ 


_ 


V 

THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

THERE  was  an  almost  total  lack  of  central  authority  or 
of  legal  restraint  throughout  the  land  during  the  long  con¬ 
flict  between  Stephen  and  Matilda,  wife  of  the  Count  of 
Anjou,  whom  the  feudal  party,  in  violation  of  their  vows 
to  Henry  I.,  refused  to  accept  as  queen;  and  to  the  other 
terrors  of  war  were  added  the  depredations  of  a  host  of 
mercenary  soldiers  brought  over  from  the  continent.  To 
quote  the  chronicler  William  of  Newburgh:  “In  the  olden 
days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel,  and  everyone  did  that 
which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes;  but  in  England  now  it 
was  worse;  for  there  was  a  king,  but  impotent,  and  every 
man  did  what  was  wrong  in  his  own  eyes.”  The  Peter¬ 
borough  continuation  of  the  English  Chronicle  gives  as  dark 
a  picture  of  the  state  of  affairs:  “  They  filled  the  land  full 
of  castles  and  filled  the  castles  full  of  devils.  They  took 
all  those  they  deemed  had  any  goods,  men  and  women, 
and  tortured  them  with  tortures  unspeakable;  many  thou¬ 
sands  they  slew  with  hunger — they  robbed  and  burned  all 
the  villages,  so  that  thou  mightest  fare  a  day’s  journey 
nor  ever  find  a  man  dwelling  in  a  village  nor  land  tilled. 
Corn,  flesh,  and  cheese  there  was  none  in  the  land.  The 
bishops  were  ever  cursing  them,  but  they  cared  naught 
therefor,  for  they  were  all  forcursed  and  forsworn  and 
forlorn.  .  .  .  Men  said  openly  that  Christ  slept  and 

105 


io6 


WOMAN 


His  saints.  Such  and  more  than  we  can  say  we  suffered 
for  our  sins.”  Such  grim  experiences  of  unlicensed  feu¬ 
dalism  did  much  for  the  social  education  of  the  English 
people,  and  similar  lawlessness  was  never  repeated  in  the 
history  of  the  country.  Out  of  the  furnace  through  which 
England  passed,  the  English  character  emerged,  purified 
of  some  of  its  dross  of  Anglo-Saxon  sluggishness  and 
Norman  arrogance,  and  finely  representative  of  the  tem¬ 
pered  elements  of  both  peoples.  A  sense  of  solidarity  was 
awakened. 

The  feudal  system  found  its  expression  in  various  forms 
of  homage  and  of  fealty,  upon  which  it  was  founded.  It 
embraced,  among  many  services  and  liabilities,  some  that 
related  to  women.  On  the  death  of  a  tenant  leaving  an 
heiress  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  the  lord  upon  whose 
lands  the  tenant  had  dwelt,  and  to  whom  he  owed  the 
military  and  other  services  of  his  lower  position,  became 
the  guardian  in  chivalry  to  the  maiden,  and  had  charge  of 
her  person  and  her  lands  until  she  was  twenty-one — 
unless,  on  reaching  the  age  of  sixteen,  she  availed  herself 
of  her  right  to  “  sue  out  her  livery  ”  by  the  payment  of  a 
half-year’s  income  of  her  estate.  Moreover,  he  was  en¬ 
titled  to  dispose  of  her  in  marriage  to  any  person  of  rank 
equal  to  her  own.  In  case  the  young  lady  did  not  approve 
of  the  selection  made  for  her,  and  rejected  her  guardian’s 
choice  or  married  without  his  consent,  she  had  to  forfeit 
to  him  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  what  was  called  the  value 
of  her  marriage — a  sum  equal  to  what  the  lord  might  have 
expected  to  receive  if  the  marriage  as  planned  by  him  had 
taken  place.  During  her  wardship  the  lord  had  the  right 
to  her  land,  and  might  assign  or  sell  his  guardianship  over 
her.  These  rights  which  the  lord  held  over  the  person 
and  possessions  of  his  ward  applied,  in  the  later  feudal 
period,  equally  to  male  and  female. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  107 

Such  was  the  relationship  of  the  ward  to  her  lord,  and 
the  same  system  of  knight  service  which  gave  him  these 
rights  in  orphaned  minors  gave  him,  as  well,  the  right  to 
collect  a  fee  upon  the  marriage  of  the  daughters  of  any  of 
his  tenants.  Such  a  system,  while  it  deprived  the  young 
woman  of  absolute  freedom  in  her  selection  of  a  husband, 
did  not  of  necessity  work  great  hardship,  as  each  fair 
young  woman  had  her  knight  dedicated  to  her  by  the 
solemn  vows  of  chivalry,  from  whom  her  troth,  once 
given,  was  not  apt  to  be  easily  wrested.  Upon  the  merits 
of  the  system  itself  we  are  not  called  upon  to  pass  judg¬ 
ment;  but  certainly  chivalry,  which  was  its  finest  prod¬ 
uct,  was  responsible  for  the  introduction  into  the  English 
character  of  splendid  ideals  of  womanhood,  which  found 
expression  in  a  deference  amounting  almost  to  worship. 

Yet  the  picture  has  a  reverse  side  as  well,  and  it  is  only 
by  considering  both  aspects  of  the  age  that  its  real  mean¬ 
ing  as  regards  its  effect  upon  the  womanhood  of  the  time 
becomes  clear.  This  other  side  of  chivalry  is  well  ex¬ 
pressed  by  Freeman,  than  whom  no  one  is  better  qualified 
to  speak.  He  says:  “The  chivalrous  spirit  is,  above  all 
things,  a  class  spirit.  The  good  knight  is  bound  to  endless 
fantastic  courtesies  towards  men  and  still  more  towards 
women  of  a  certain  rank;  he  may  treat  all  below  that  rank 
with  any  degree  of  scorn  or  cruelty.  .  .  .  Chivalry 

is  short  in  its  morals  very  much  what  feudalism  is  in  law: 
each  substitutes  purely  personal  obligations,  obligations 
devised  in  the  interest  of  an  exclusive  class,  for  the  more 
homely  duties  of  an  honest  man  and  a  good  citizen. ” 

The  extravagant  reverence  and  regard  paid  to  women 
of  the  higher  ranks  of  society  did  not  have  a  firm  basis  in 
inherent  moral  principle  either  in  them  or  in  their  worship¬ 
pers,  so  that  it  was  an  easy  passage  from  idealized  woman 
to  materialized  woman.  Life  cannot  long  subsist  on  the 


io8 


WOMAN 


perfervid  products  of  a  social  imagination.  As  a  revulsion 
of  noble  minds  from  coarseness  and  as  a  protest  against 
tyranny  and  vice,  chivalry  fulfilled  a  high  mission;  but, 
unfortunately,  its  exalted  admiration  of  woman  fell  to  a 
physical  appreciation  of  its  subject.  Not  her  womanhood, 
but  her  graces  of  person  came  to  evoke  the  passionate 
devotion  of  the  knight.  An  admiration  fantastic  and  ro¬ 
mantic,  expressing  itself  in  all  sorts  of  extravagance,  a 
worship  of  mere  physical  beauty — such  was  the  nature  of 
chivalry  in  its  later  expression.  Instead  of  an  idol,  woman 
became  but  a  toy. 

In  no  respect  was  this  sentimentality  better  illustrated 
than  in  the  nature  of  the  knightly  devotion  of  the  time. 
When  not  in  the  camp,  the  life  of  the  knight  was  an  idle 
one,  and  was  spent  for  the  most  part  in  sentimental 
attendance  upon  ladies  at  court  or  castle.  It  was  there 
that  his  deeds  of  prowess  won  rewards  rather  more  gen¬ 
erously  than  discreetly  given  by  the  lady  to  whom  he  had 
pledged  his  devotion;  so  that,  with  all  the  circumstances 
of  outward  respect  for  women,  surpassing  in  ostentatious 
display  that  shown  by  any  other  age,  it  is  a  painful  fact 
that  in  no  other  age  was  there  such  license  in  the  associa¬ 
tion  of  the  sexes.  It  is  a  striking  comment  upon  the  man¬ 
ners  of  the  times  that  “  gallantry  ”  should  have  come  to 
signify  both  bravery  and  illicit  love.  Chastity  was  not 
one  of  the  ornaments  of  the  age  of  chivalry. 

In  curious  contrast  to  the  attitude  of  chivalry — a  product 
of  the  Church — toward  women  was  that  of  the  Church  in 
its  official  character  and  expression.  The  knight  elevated 
woman  to  the  plane  of  angels,  while  the  priest  went  to  the 
other  extreme.  Saint  Chrysostom’s  definition  of  woman 
as  “a  necessary  evil,  a  natural  temptation,  a  desirable 
calamity,  a  domestic  peril,  a  deadly  fascination,  and  a 
painted  ill,”  continued  to  be  the  orthodox  view  of  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  109 

Church.  Woman  was  to  be  avoided  as  a  temptation  by 
all  those  who  valued  the  security  of  their  souls;  and  yet 
it  was  the  Church,  more  than  any  other  social  force,  which 
gave  to  woman  the  dignity  and  worth  that  she  achieved. 

The  Church  stood  for  order  and  even  for  progress;  it 
summed  up  in  itself  all  the  knowledge  and  the  culture  of 
the  times.  In  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  and  dangers  of  war 
and  strife,  it  afforded  to  women  the  one  haven  to  which 
they  might  flee  for  security.  But  its  protection  was  bought 
at  the  price  of  authority  over  the  lives  and  consciences  of 
its  adherents.  The  lives  of  women  were  spent  in  a  round 
of  narrow  experience  and  of  duty,  and  the  feasts  of  the 
Church,  with  their  processions  and  ceremonials,  furnished 
to  them  merely  an  agreeable  break  in  the  monotony  of 
their  existence.  This  was  especially  true  of  the  lower 
classes.  In  an  age  when  belief  in  supernatural  appearances 
and  interferences  formed  part  of  the  common  credence  of 
the  masses,  the  emotional  sensibilities  of  the  women  were 
easily  appealed  to  by  the  priests.  By  taking  advantage 
of  this  ignorance,  the  Church  was  enabled  to  hold  in  abso¬ 
lute  control  the  lives  of  the  simple  and  credulous  women. 
Women  did  not  hesitate  to  yield  to  the  Church  their  free¬ 
dom  of  thought  and  of  action,  their  minds  and  consciences 
alike  being  at  the  disposal  of  their  ecclesiastical  directors; 
but  when  the  Church  taught  men  to  respect  their  wives, 
and  raised  its  voice  and  exerted  its  influence  against  the 
tyranny  which  placed  women  in  subjection  to  their  male 
relatives,  it  was  indeed  befriending  them  in  a  way  that 
hastened  the  acquirement  by  them  of  the  real  equality 
which  they  now  enjoy  with  the  other  sex. 

The  relation  of  women  and  the  Church  was  not  without 

k  a  ^  *  .  rc  * 

its  anomalies.  This  is.  shown  curiously  in  the  contrast 
between  the  Mariolatry'bf  the  age  and  the  attitude  of  the 
Church  toward  the  sex  of  which  Mary  was  the  exalted 


IIO 


WOMAN 


type.  The  women  were  not  esteemed  fit  to  receive  the 
Eucharist  with  uncovered  hands;  they  were  forbidden  to 
approach  the  altar;  their  married  state  was  yet,  in  theory 
at  least,  considered  a  condition  of  sin,  for,  even  among  the 
women  of  the  laity,  virginity  and  celibacy  were  regarded 
as  almost  a  state  of  especial  sanctity.  But  the  Church 
was  entirely  consistent  in  its  attitude  toward  women  in 
that  it  made  no  distinctions  as  to  class  or  condition.  Queen 
Philippa,  wife  of  Edward  III.,  while  on  a  visit  to  Durham 
Cathedral,  after  having  supped  with  the  king,  retired  to 
rest  in  the  priory.  The  scandalized  monks  sought  an 
interview  with  the  king  and  made  vigorous  protests,  so 
that  the  queen  was  obliged  to  rise,  and,  clad  only  in  her 
night  apparel,  sought  accommodations  in  the  castle,  be¬ 
seeching  Saint  Cuthbert’s  pardon  for  having  polluted  the 
holy  confines  with  her  presence. 

Ecclesiastical  law  operated  disastrously  against  women 
in  declaring  for  a  celibate  priesthood.  In  Anglo-Saxon 
times  the  priests  married;  but  the  Council  of  Winchester, 
in  1076,  took  a  stand  against  the  marriage  of  the  clergy, 
and  forbade  priests  to  take  to  themselves  wives,  although 
it  permitted  the  parish  clergy  who  were  already  married 
to  continue  in  the  marital  state.  In  1102,  however,  it  was 
declared  that  no  married  priest  should  celebrate  mass,  and 
in  1215  the  Lateran  Council  definitely  pronounced  against 
marriage  of  priests.  Many  of  the  clergy  had  by  no  means 
shown  a  docile  spirit  in  relation  to  this  invasion  of  what 
they  considered  the  domain  of  their  personal  rights;  when 
forced  into  submission,  they  evaded  the  ordinances  by 
taking  concubines.  Even  in  the  fifteenth  century,  it  was 
not  uncommon  to  find  married  priests.  In  the  document 
entitled,  Instructions  for  Parish  Priests,  those  who  were  too 
weak  to  live  uprightly  in  the  celibate  state  were  counselled 
to  take  wives.  Concubinage,  as  a  substitute  for  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


1 1 1 


interdicted  marriage,  continued  to  be  practised  down  to 
the  sixteenth  century,  nor  was  this  form  of  illicit  living  the 
worst  vice  of  the  clergy.  Debauchery  spread  throughout 
the  country,  until  in  the  sixteenth  century  it  is  said  that 
as  many  as  one  hundred  thousand  women  fell  under  the 
seductions  of  the  priests,  for  whose  particular  pleasures 
houses  of  ill  fame  were  kept.  From  the  laity,  complaints 
became  general  that  their  wives  and  daughters  were  not 
safe  from  the  advances  of  the  priests.  In  1536  the  clergy 
of  the  diocese  of  Bangor  sent  to  Cromwell  the  following 
remarkable  plea  against  taking  away  their  women  from 
them:  “We  ourselves  shall  be  driven  to  seek  our  living 
at  all  houses  and  taverns,  for  mansions  upon  the  benefices 
and  vicarages  we  have  none.  And  as  for  gentlemen  and 
substantial  honest  men,  for  fear  of  inconvenience,  and 
knowing  our  frailty  and  accustomed  liberty,  they  will  in 
no  wise  board  us  in  their  houses.”  All  the  literature  of 
the  Middle  Ages  leads  to  but  one  conclusion — that  the  clergy 
were  the  great  corrupters  of  domestic  virtue  among  the 
burgher  and  agricultural  classes.  The  morals  of  the  lords 
and  ladies  of  the  upper  strata  of  the  aristocratic  class  were 
of  no  higher  grade;  the  offenders,  however,  were  seldom 
the  priests,  but  the  gallants  of  that  privileged  circle.  The 
lower  rank  of  the  aristocracy, — the  knights  and  lesser 
landholders, — which,  with  the  decline  of  feudalism,  came  to 
be  more  strongly  defined  as  a  separate  class,  appears 
to  have  preserved  the  best  moral  tone  of  any  of  the 
classes  of  mediaeval  society. 

A  great  deal  of  light  is  thrown  upon  the  manners  and 
thought  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  by  a  body 
of  literature  which  arose  during  those  centuries.  The 
estimation  in  which  the  classes  of  society  were  held  is 
indicated  by  one  of  these  fabliaux.  A  party  of  knights 
passed  through  a  pleasant  and  shady  meadow,  in  the  midst 


1 12 


WOMAN 


of  exquisite  scenery;  they  were  enchanted  by  the  spot, 
and  wished  for  meat  and  wine  that  they  might  tarry  there 
and  dine  on  the  grass.  There  followed  them  a  party  of 
clerks,  whose  feelings  were  also  aroused  by  the  beauty 
of  the  place;  and,  in  accord  with  the  frivolous  character 
given  them  throughout  the  fabliaux ,  they  exclaimed: 
“Had  we  fair  maidens  here,  how  pleasant  a  spot  for 
play!”  After  they  had  passed  on,  there  came  a  party  of 
villains,  who,  with  their  grosser  ideas,  thought  not  of  the 
beauty  of  the  place  at  all,  but  proceeded  to  indulge  them¬ 
selves  in  carnal  pleasures  and  to  use  it  for  mean  purposes. 

These  fabliaux  show  us  that  Cupid  disdained  conven¬ 
tional  restraint  then  as  now;  for  in  them  the  marriage  of 
persons  in  different  classes  often  furnishes  a  theme  for 
the  story — this,  too,  notwithstanding  the  sharp  caste  dis¬ 
tinctions  which  existed.  Usually,  the  maiden  is  possessed 
of  more  beauty  than  wealth  and  belongs  to  the  poor-knight 
class;  she  is  wedded  to  a  peasant  or  villain  who  has  become 
wealthy.  The  husband  turns  out  to  be  a  brute;  the  lady  is 
crafty  and  cunning.  He  beats  and  abuses  her,  according  to 
the  instincts  of  his  boorish  nature;  she,  on  the  other  hand, 
proves  faithless  as  often  as  opportunity  presents.  The 
writers  never  visit  condemnation  upon  her,  for  her  hus¬ 
band  is  considered  as  undeserving  of  the  possession  of 
such  a  prize.  It  is  a  curious  commentary  on  the  manner 
of  the  times  that  upon  the  same  manuscript,  written  by 
the  same  person,  appear  fabliaux  of  this  sort  and  stories 
of  holy  women  dying  in  defence  of  their  chastity.  This 
contradiction  runs  throughout  the  literature  of  the  period — 
the  praise  of  virtue  and  the  narration  of  gross  immorality 
without  an  effort  to  condemn  it.  One  of  the  most  peculiar 
facts  of  the  age  is  the  extreme  to  which  was  carried  the 
adoration  of  the  Virgin  and  the  strange  things  she  is  made 
to  do  and  to  countenance.  In  the  mythology  of  the  Middle 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


113 

Ages — for  so  we  must  class  most  of  the  mediaeval  stories 
of  the  saints  and  of  the  Virgin — to  ardent  and  imaginative 
temperaments  the  Virgin  took  the  character  of  Venus,  and 
is  frequently  represented  as  the  patroness  of  love.  One 
of  the  religious  stories  tells  us  that  some  young  men,  while 
playing  ball  in  front  of  a  church,  approached  the  porch  of 
the  edifice,  upon  which  was  a  beautiful  statue  of  Our  Lady. 
One  of  them  laid  down  his  ring,  which  he  had  received 
from  his  lady-love.  Then,  to  his  amazement,  he  saw  the 
image,  which  was  “fresh  and  new,”  fix  its  eyes  upon 
the  ring.  He  became  enamored  of  it,  and,  after  due  obei¬ 
sance,  he  addressed  Our  Lady  thus: 

“  ‘I  promise  duly, 

That  all  my  life  I’ll  serve  thee  truly; 

For  never  saw  I  maiden  fair 

Whose  beauty  could  with  thine  compare, 

So  courtly  and  so  debonaire : 

And  she  who  gave  this  ring  to  me, 

Though  fair  and  sweet  herself,  than  thee 
A  hundred  times  less  fair,  I  trow, 

Shall  yield  to  thee  her  empire  now. 

’Tis  true  I’ve  loved  her  long  and  well, 

As  many  a  fond  caress  can  tell ; 

But  now,  forgotten  and  neglected, 

Her  meaner  charms  for  thine  rejected, 

I  give  her  ring— a  lasting  token 
Of  faith  which  never  shall  be  broken, 

Nor  shared  with  maid  or  wife  shall  be 
The  love  I  proffer  unto  thee.’  ” 


With  this  address,  he  placed  the  ring  upon  the  finger  of 
the  image.  Our  Lady  appeared  flattered  by  the  conquest 
she  had  made,  and  bent  the  finger  on  which  the  ring  had 
been  placed  in  order  that  it  might  not  be  withdrawn. 
The  lover  was  astounded  by  the  miracle,  and  was  advised 
by  his  friends  to  retire  from  the  world  and  to  devote  him¬ 
self  to  the  adoration  and  service  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 


WOMAN 


1 14 

Neglecting  this  advice,  he  allowed  love  to  resume  its  place 
and  led  to  the  altar  the  maiden  who  had  given  him  the 
ring.  But  Our  Lady  was  not  to  be  deprived  of  her  adorer, 
and  when  he  laid  himself  upon  the  nuptial  couch  she  im¬ 
mediately  threw  him  into  a  profound  slumber,  and  when  he 
awoke  he  found  her  lying  between  him  and  his  bride: 

“  She  showed  him  straight  her  finger,  where 
Was  still  the  ring  he’d  given  her; 

And  well  became  her  hand  that  ring 
Upon  her  soft  skin  glittering. 

‘  Instead  of  love,  thou’st  shown,’  said  she, 

‘  But  falseness  and  disloyalty. 

And  ill  hast  kept  thy  faith  to  me. 

Behold  the  ring  thou  gavest,  for  token 
And  pledge  of  love  fore’er  unbroken, 

And  call’d  me  a  hundred  times  more  fair 
Than  ever  earthly  maidens  were. 

I  have  been  ever  true,  but  thou 
Hast  taken  a  meaner  leman  now ; 

Hast  left  for  stinking  nettle  the  rose, 

Sweet  eglantine  for  flower  more  gross.’  ” 

In  the  end,  Our  Lady  forces  him  to  leave  his  wife  that 
he  may  dedicate  himself  entirely  to  her  service.  In  other 
fabliaux  and  in  the  chronicles,  Mary  is  represented  under 
the  guise  of  the  Lady  Venus,  who  often  appears  in  these 
romances.  In  this  adoration  of  the  Virgin  as  a  maiden  im¬ 
pelled  by  the  same  loves  and  hates  as  any  mortal  woman, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  see  the  spirit  of  chivalry  in  its  sensual 
expression.  Surely,  if  every  lady  had  her  knight,  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  also,  must  have  her  devoted  admirers;  and 
by  the  height  of  her  position  and  greater  worthiness  as  the 
Queen  of  Heaven,  by  so  much  should  she  rise  above  any 
other  woman  in  her  right  to  command  such  adorers. 

When  we  pass  from  the  status  of  woman  in  the  Middle 
Ages  to  her  occupations,  the  subject  becomes  narrowed, 
not  only  by  the  lesser  importance  of  the  facts  which 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  1 15 

merely  illustrate  rather  than  demonstrate  her  position,  but 
also  because  we  shall  exclude  from  our  general  considera¬ 
tion  the  women  of  the  manors,  the  nuns,  and,  in  their 
industrial  capacities,  the  women  of  the  guilds.  These 
important  classes  demand  separate  treatment. 

After  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  it  is  easier  to 
study  the  domestic  manners  of  the  people.  We  can,  for 
instance,  obtain  very  precise  information  as  to  the  style  of 
the  dwellings  in  which  they  lived.  There  was  a  general 
uniformity  in  the  houses,  however  they  might  vary  in 
particulars.  In  the  twelfth  century,  the  hall  continued  to 
be  the  main  part  of  the  dwelling.  Adjoining  it  at  one  end 
was  the  chamber,  while  at  the  other  end  might  be  found 
the  stable.  The  whole  building  stood  in  an  enclosure  con¬ 
sisting  of  a  yard  in  front  and  a  garden  in  the  rear,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  hedge  and  ditch.  The  house  had  a  door  in 
the  front,  and  within,  one  door  led  to  the  chamber,  and 
another  to  the  stable.  The  chamber,  also,  frequently  had 
a  door  leading  out  to  the  garden.  There  were  usually 
windows  in  the  hall,  the  stable  and  the  chamber  being 
lighted  by  openings  in  the  partitions  between  them  and 
the  hall,  as  well  as  by  slits  in  the  outer  walls.  The  win¬ 
dows  themselves  were  commonly  merely  openings,  which 
might  be  closed  by  wooden  shutters.  There  was  usually 
one  such  window  in  the  chamber,  besides  those  in  the 
hall,  so  that  it  was  better  lighted  than  the  stable. 

From  the  fabliaux  we  can  obtain  very  precise  ideas  of 
the  distribution  of  the  rooms  in  the  houses  of  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries.  Thus,  in  one  of  the  fabliaux,  an 
old  woman  of  mean  condition  of  life  is  represented  as  visit¬ 
ing  a  burgher’s  wife,  who,  from  a  feeling  of  vanity,  takes 
her  into  the  chamber  to  show  her  the  new  bed,  a  very 
handsome  affair.  Afterward,  when  this  lady  takes  refuge 
with  the  old  dame,  the  latter  conducts  her  from  the  hall  to 


WOMAN 


1 16 

the  chamber  adjoining.  The  outer  door  of  the  chamber, 
by  which  egress  could  be  had  from  the  house  without 
going  through  the  hall,  often  figures  in  the  stories  as  aiding 
the  escape  of  the  lovers  of  guilty  wives,  on  the  unexpected 
entrance  of  the  husbands  into  the  hall.  It  was  in  the 
chamber  that  fireplaces  and  chimneys  were  first  introduced 
into  mediasval  houses. 

As  the  grouping  of  the  rooms  upon  the  ground  floor 
made  the  house  less  compact  and  more  susceptible  to  suc¬ 
cessful  attack,  the  custom  arose  of  having  upper  chambers. 
The  upper  room  was  called  the  solar,  because  it  received 
much  light  from  the  sun.  At  first  it  was  but  a  small  cham¬ 
ber,  approached  from  the  outside.  These  outer  stairs  are 
often  referred  to  in  th  e  fabliaux,  as  in  the  fabliau  of  D’Es- 
tourmi,  where  a  burgher  and  his  wife  deceive  three  monks 
of  a  neighboring  abbey,  who  make  love  to  the  lady;  she 
conceals  her  husband  in  the  upper  chamber,  to  which  he 
goes  by  an  outer  staircase.  The  monks  enter  the  hall, 
and  the  husband  sees  from  the  upper  room,  through  a 
lattice,  all  that  happens.  In  another  fabliau,  a  lady  uses 
the  solar  as  a  hiding  place  for  her  husband,  who  has  dis¬ 
guised  himself  as  a  gallant  in  order  to  test  his  wife’s  faith¬ 
fulness.  She  penetrates  his  disguise,  and,  after  closing 
the  door  of  the  solar  upon  him,  sends  a  servant  to  give 
him  a  good  beating,  as  an  importunate  suitor  whom  she 
desires  to  cure  of  his  annoying  passion.  The  husband, 
too  mortified  to  reveal  his  identity  and  disclose  his  doubts 
as  to  his  wife,  has  no  redress  but  to  sustain  his  assumed 
character  and  to  escape  down  the  outer  stairs,  pursued  by 
the  servants.  The  chamber  soon  came  to  be  the  most 
important  part  of  the  house,  and  frequently  its  name  was 
given  to  the  whole  dwelling,  a  house  with  a  solar  being 
called  an  upper-storied  chamber.  The  more  considerable 
manors  and  castles  differed  from  the  ordinary  houses  only 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


II 7 


in  having  a  greater  assemblage  of  rooms  and  more  details 
than  were  found  in  the  smaller  dwellings. 

Toward  the  fourteenth  century,  the  rooms  of  houses 
generally  began  to  be  numerous,  and  the  houses  were 
often  built  around  a  court,  the  additions  being  chiefly  to 
the  number  of  offices  and  chambers.  Wood  continued 
to  be  the  usual  material  for  their  construction.  A  new 
apartment  was  added  to  the  house — the  parlor,  so  called 
because  it  was  the  talking  room.  It  was  derived  from  * 
the  religious  houses,  in  which  the  parlor  was  the  recep¬ 
tion  room.  As  furniture  was  scanty,  the  rooms  of  the 
medieval  house  were  almost  bare.  Chairs  were  very 
few,  and  seats  in  the  masonry  of  the  wall  continued  for 
centuries  to  be  the  principal  accommodation  of  the  kind; 
benches  for  seats  and  places  of  deposit  of  personal  or 
household  articles  were  usually  made  of  a  few  boards  laid 
across  trestles.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  the  beds  in  the 
chamber  came  to  be  partitioned  off  by  curtains,  which 
showed  an  advance  in  modesty,  as  it  was  customary  to 
sleep  wholly  undressed.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  comforts  of  the  houses  were  quite  primitive;  even  the 
houses  themselves  were  generally  without  architectural 
grace  and  frequently  very  unsubstantial.  When  watch¬ 
men  were  appointed  in  the  towns,  they  were  provided 
with  a  “  hook  ’’  with  which  to  pull  down  a  house  when  on 
fire,  if  its  proximity  to  others  threatened  their  destruc¬ 
tion.  As  there  was  an  absence  of  luxury  in  the  houses 
and  their  furnishings,  much  value  was  placed  on  plate, 
which  came  to  be  a  sign  of  wealth  and  social  distinction. 
Dress,  also,  aided  in  marking  distinctions  between  the 
wealthy  and  those  in  less  fortunate  circumstances,  as  did 
the  luxuries  found  upon  the  tables  of  the  former. 

This  fact  of  the  general  character  of  the  discomforts  of 
living,  without  regard  to  rank  or  condition,  gave  occasion 


1 1 8 


WOMAN 


for  sumptuary  laws — “the  toe  of  the  peasant  pressed 
closely  on  the  heel  of  the  lord,  and  the  gulf  that  parted 
them  was  the  number  of  dishes  upon  their  table,  the  qual¬ 
ity  of  the  cloth  they  put  on,  and  the  kind  of  fur  they  might 
wear  to  keep  off  the  cold.” 

Glass  began  to  be  introduced  into  dwelling  houses  in  the 
time  of  Henry  III.,  but  was  regarded  as  a  great  luxury. 
Pipes  for  carrying  the  refuse  water  and  slops  from  the 
houses  to  sewers  or  cesspools  were  one  of  the  great  sani¬ 
tary  reforms  of  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  The  same  able 
monarch  made  the  use  of  baths  popular  among  his  people. 
The  floors  of  the  houses  continued  to  be  covered  with  an 
armful  of  hay,  or  a  bundle  of  birch  boughs  or  of  rushes, 
although  during  the  fourteenth  century  some  of  the 
wealthier  farmers  and  persons  of  the  trading  classes  and 
the  nobility  had  begun  to  use  imported  carpets  and  hang¬ 
ings.  Table  linen  and  napkins  were  also  coming  into 
service.  The  use  of  forks  was  confined  to  royalty. 

When  the  fine  ladies  went  abroad  in  their  vehicles  or 
were  carried  in  their  chairs,  they  had  to  plow  through 
streets  deep  with  mire  and  filth;  so  much  so,  that  it  was 
not  unusual  for  coaches  to  stick  fast  and  depend  upon  the 
aid  of  some  friendly  teamster  to  extricate  them.  The 
sanitation  of  the  dwellings  was  little  better  than  that  of 
the  streets.  The  stench  of  the  houses  of  the  poor  was  so 
great  that  the  priests  made  it  an  excuse  for  failure  to  pay 
parochial  visits  to  them.  The  better  class  of  houses  were, 
of  course,  kept  much  cleaner. 

The  impression  that  food  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  coarse 
and  not  elaborate  is  not  borne  out,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  facts;  for,  from  Anglo-Saxon  times  down,  the  people 
were  very  fond  of  the  table,  and  in  the  higher  circles 
elaborate  banquets  stood  as  one  of  the  most  usual  re¬ 
sources  of  a  hospitality  which  had  to  make  up  for  its 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  Iig 

barrenness  in  other  ways  by  the  bounties  of  elaborate 
feasts,  so  that  we  are  quite  prepared  for  Alexander  Neck- 
am’s  list  of  kitchen  requisites.  This  ecclesiastic  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century  has  left  us  a  list  of 
the  things  to  be  found  in  a  well-ordered  kitchen.  Besides 
his  list,  we  have  the  testimony  of  cookbooks  of  the  time, 
which  give  directions  for  making  dishes  that  are  both  com¬ 
plicated  and  toothsome.  Indeed,  the  position  of  cook  was 
one  of  importance,  and  upon  him  often  rested,  in  great 
houses,  the  honor  of  the  establishment. 

In  this  connection  may  be  given  some  of  the  curious 
injunctions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  penitentials,  which  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  quoted  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  becoming 
superstitious  beliefs  after  they  had  lost  their  ecclesiastical 
character  and  undergone  the  changes  which,  with  the  lapse 
of  time,  develop  folklore.  One  of  the  oddest  prescribed 
that  in  case  a  “mouse  fall  into  liquor,  let  it  be  taken  out, 
and  sprinkle  the  liquor  with  holy-water,  and  if  it  be  alive, 
the  liquor  may  be  used,  but  if  it  be  dead,  throw  the  liquor 
out  and  cleanse  the  vessel. ”  Another  said:  “  He  who  uses 
anything  a  dog  or  mouse  has  eaten  of,  or  a  weasel  polluted, 
if  he  do  it  knowingly,  let  him  sing  a  hundred  psalms;  and  if 
he  knew  it  not,  let  him  sing  fifty  psalms. ”  These  are  but 
samples  of  many  superstitions  with  which  the  thought  of 
the  Middle  Ages  was  tinctured. 

A  considerable  treatise  might  be  written  upon  the  super¬ 
stitions  of  the  English  women;  it  would  contain  astonish¬ 
ing  disclosures  as  to  the  effect  of  the  unreal  world  of 
fairies,  goblins,  and  the  like  upon  woman’s  development 
and  status  during  the  Middle  Ages.  She  was  undoubtedly 
influenced  in  her  daily  life,  in  almost  all  her  duties  and 
undertakings,  by  the  terrors  with  which  her  superstitions 
filled  her.  The  legacy  of  a  pagan  system  was  slowly 
thrown  off,  and,  with  all  the  credulity  of  the  religion  of 


120 


WOMAN 


the  times,  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  Church  that,  by  its 
proscriptions  as  well  as  by  its  healthier  teaching,  supersti¬ 
tion  in  many  of  its  forms  lessened  its  hold  upon  the  minds 
of  the  people.  And  yet  it  was  needful,  if  historical  fact 
denotes  a  social  necessity,  that  these  superstitions  should 
culminate  in  a  belief  in  witchcraft,  and  woman,  because  of 
her  credulity,  become  the  scapegoat  of  the  gnomes  and 
witches  which  existed  in  her  simple  faith.  Even  so  cul¬ 
tured  a  person  as  Augustine,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
of  the  Church  Fathers  of  his  time,  declared  it  to  be  inso¬ 
lent  to  doubt  the  existence  of  fauns,  satyrs,  and  suchlike 
demoniac  beings,  which  lie  in  wait  for  women  and  have 
intercourse  with  them  and  children  by  them.  It  was  this 
belief  which  extended  into  a  labyrinth  of  darkness  and 
superstition  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  The  reasoning 
of  the  Church  was  perfectly  simple:  if  the  miracles  of  the 
Apostles  and  of  Christ  were  of  divine  agency,  then  the 
marvels  performed  by  magicians  before  the  astonished 
eyes  of  the  heathen  were  to  be  accredited  to  Satan. 
The  Church  never  doubted  the  existence  of  malignant 
spirits,  but  bent  its  endeavors  toward  persuading  the 
people  to  give  up  converse  with  them.  If  a  woman  gave 
herself  over  to  Satan  or  any  of  his  minions,  the  only 
resource  was  to  put  her  to  death.  Horrible  as  were  the 
witch  burnings  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Church  sincerely 
believed  that  it  was  exorcising  the  Devil  from  the  lives  of 
the  people;  and  by  the  terrible  examples  it  made  of  those 
who  were  accounted  as  having  sold  themselves  to  the  Evil 
One,  it  believed  it  was  placing  a  deterrent  upon  others 
who  might  be  minded  to  yield  themselves  to  diabolical 
possession.  The  Church  was  but  sharing  the  universal 
belief  of  the  times,  and,  as  the  guardian  of  the  spiritual 
interests  of  mankind,  it  sought  the  purification  of  society 
by  severe  measures  which,  it  felt,  were  alone  suited  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


1 21 


the  gravity  of  the  subject.  From  this  belief  in  devil 
possession  arose  a  veritable  system  of  Christian  magic; 
charms,  amulets,  exorcisms,  abounded;  thus,  white  magic 
was  opposed  to  black  magic. 

But  when  the  belief  in  witchcraft  led  to  papal  promulga¬ 
tions  against  it  and  against  all  who  dared  entertain  doubts 
upon  the  subject,  and  when  it  led  also  to  the  appointment 
of  tribunals  for  the  trying  of  “witches,”  there  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  malice  and  ignorance  a  power  from  which 
no  woman,  however  exalted  in  rank  or  pure  in  character, 
was  secure,  provided  only  she  incurred  the  enmity  of 
someone  bent  upon  effecting  her  ruin. 

The  genesis  of  the  belief  lies  even  back  of  the  prevail¬ 
ing  superstitions  of  the  times,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the 
lower  regard  in  which  the  female  sex  was  held.  As  we 
have  said,  chivalry  did  not  cover  with  its  aegis  all  women, 
but  only  those  of  a  certain  class;  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
opinion  held  of  women  in  general  was  not  flattering  to  the 
sex.  The  descriptions  of  witch  trials  and  the  processes 
for  the  extortion  of  confessions;  the  indignities  of  many 
sorts  to  which  women  were  subjected;  the  horrors  of  a 
system  which  virtually  made  one  become  an  informer 
upon  her  neighbor,  lest  she  be  anticipated  by  charges 
preferred  against  herself;  the  whole  dreary  round  of  the 
subject  and  its  literature:  all  these  are  too  uninviting  to 
permit  of  detail.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  say 
that  throughout  Europe — for  the  delusion  was  so  wide¬ 
spread — certainly  not  less  than  a  million  persons  were 
burned,  or  otherwise  put  to  death,  as  witches  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  So  great  a  holocaust  had  to  be  offered  up 
by  women  as  a  sin  offering  for  their  sex! 

The  state  of  education  had  much  to  do  with  the  manners 
and  opinions  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  there  was  a  feeling  of  the  necessity 


122 


WOMAN 


for  extending  and  improving  education.  There  was  spread 
abroad  a  degree  of  popular  instruction.  It  was  not  an 
uncommon  thing  for  ladies  to  be  able  to  read  and  write. 
Among  the  amusements  of  their  leisure  hours,  reading 
began  to  have  a  very  much  larger  place  than  formerly. 
Yet,  popular  literature — the  tales,  ballads,  and  songs — 
was  still  communicated  orally  rather  than  in  writing, 
though  books  were  more  extensively  circulated.  Often 
persons  of  wealth  and  culture  had  extensive  libraries. 
Excepting  in  the  case  of  those  who  followed  or  desired  to 
follow  the  career  of  scholars,  the  women  were  less  illiterate 
than  the  men. 

In  considering  the  dress  of  the  women  of  England  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  sumptuary  laws  passed  for  its  regu¬ 
lation  are  of  interest  in  themselves  as  affording  a  view  of 
the  dress  of  the  several  classes  of  society,  and  they  also 
serve  to  illustrate  upon  what  simple  lines  the  distinctions 
of  society  were  drawn. 

In  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  a 
curious  complaint  was  submitted  to  Parliament  by  the 
Commons  against  general  extravagance  in  the  use  of 
apparel;  whereupon  an  act  was  passed  in  regulation  of 
the  matter.  One  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  as  it  re¬ 
lated  to  women,  prescribed  that  the  wives  and  children  of 
the  grooms  and  servants  of  the  lords  and  of  tradesmen 
and  artificers  should  not  wear  veils  costing  more  than 
twelvepence  each.  The  wives  and  children  of  the  trades¬ 
men  and  artificers  themselves  should  wear  no  veils  ex¬ 
cepting  those  made  with  thread  and  manufactured  in  the 
kingdom;  nor  any  kind  of  furs  excepting  those  of  lambs, 
rabbits,  cats,  and  foxes.  The  cloth  for  their  dresses  was 
also  to  be  of  a  prescribed  kind.  The  wives  and  children 
of  esquires — gentlemen  under  the  estate  of  knighthood — 
might  not  wear  cloth  of  gold,  of  silk,  or  of  silver;  nor  any 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


123 


ornaments  of  precious  stones,  nor  furs  of  any  kind;  nor 
any  purfling  or  facings  upon  their  garments;  neither 
should  they  use  esclaires,  crinales ,  or  trosles — certain  forms 
of  hairpins,  and  suchlike  ornaments. 

In  the  case  of  knights  of  a  certain  income,  their  wives 
and  children  were  prohibited  from  wearing  miniver  or 
ermine  as  linings  for  their  garments  or  trimming  for  their 
sleeves.  The  lower  classes  were  restricted  to  blankets 
and  russets  for  their  attire,  and  these  were  not  to  cost 
more  than  twelvepence  per  yard,  unless  the  income  of 
the  man  was  above  forty  shillings.  It  is  not  probable 
that  these  enactments  were  rigidly  enforced,  and  when 
Henry  IV.  came  to  the  throne  he  found  it  necessary  to 
revive  the  prohibiting  statutes  of  his  predecessor.  A  num¬ 
ber  of  such  sumptuary  laws  were  passed  during  succeed¬ 
ing  reigns,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  they  were  ever 
really  effective.  Nor  were  the  satires  and  witticisms  of 
the  poets  and  other  writers  of  the  day  more  effectual  than 
legislation  in  correcting  the  extravagances  and  vices  of 
dress.  Whether  the  poet  or  the  moralist  pointed  their 
shafts  against  them,  the  dames  and  the  dandies  of  the 
time  continued  to  dress  as  pleased  them. 

Some  of  these  criticisms  so  sum  up  the  dress  of  the  day, 
that  to  quote  them'  is  to  see  the  fine  lady  attired  in  all  her 
bewildering  array  of  beautiful  stuffs.  William  de  Lorris, 
in  his  celebrated  poem,  the  Romance  of  the  Rose,  has  drawn 
the  character  of  Jealousy,  and  represents  him  as  reproach¬ 
ing  his  wife  for  her  insatiable  love  of  finery,  which,  he 
tells  her,  is  solely  to  make  her  attractive  in  the  eyes  of 
her  gallants.  He  then  enumerates  the  parts  of  her  dress, 
consisting  of  mantles  lined  with  sable,  surcoats,  neck 
linens,  wimples,  petticoats,  shifts,  pelices,  jewels,  chaplets 
of  fresh  flowers,  buckles  of  gold,  rings,  robes,  and  rich 
furs.  Then  he  adds:  “  You  carry  the  worth  of  one  hundred 


124 


WOMAN 


pounds  in  gold  and  silver  upon  your  head — such  garlands, 
such  coiffures  with  gilt  ribbons,  such  mirrors  framed  in 
gold,  so  fair,  so  beautifully  polished;  such  tissues  and 
girdles,  with  expensive  fastenings  of  gold,  set  with  precious 
stones  of  smaller  size;  and  your  feet  shod  so  primly,  that 
the  robe  must  be  often  lifted  up  to  show  them.”  And  in 
a  subsequent  part  of  the  poem  the  ladies  are  advised, 
satirically,  if  their  ankles  be  not  handsome  and  their  feet 
small  and  delicate,  to  hide  them  by  wearing  long  robes, 
trailing  upon  the  pavement.  Those,  on  the  contrary, 
who  were  more  favored  in  this  respect  were  advised  to 
elevate  their  robes,  as  if  it  were  to  give  access  to  air, 
that  the  passer-by  might  see  and  admire  their  trim  feet 
and  ankles. 

Such  were  some  of  the  adornments  of  the  fine  ladies  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  It  is  instructive  to  turn  to  Chau¬ 
cer’s  Canterbury  Tales  and  study  the  costumes  of  some  of 
the  characters  as  they  are  interpreted  by  Strutt.  This 
will  afford  a  view  of  the  dress  of  typical  persons  in  the 
ordinary  ranks  of  life.  The  Wife  of  Bath  is  drawn  by 
Chaucer  at  full  length  as  a  shameless  woman,  pert,  loqua¬ 
cious,  and  bold,  whose  favorite  occupation  is  gossiping  and 
rambling  abroad  in  search  of  fashionable  diversions,  in  the 
absence  of  her  husband.  She  had  the  art  of  making  fine 
cloth.  Her  dress  materials  were  expensive,  for  she  had 
kerchiefs,  or  head  linen,  which  she  wore  on  Sunday,  so 
fine  that  they  were  equal  in  value  to  ten  pounds;  and 
her  stockings  were  made  of  fine  red  scarlet  cloth,  and 
“straightway  gartered  upon  her  legs”;  her  shoes  were 
also  new,  and  to  them  she  had  a  pair  of  spurs  attached, 
because  she  was  to  ride  upon  horseback;  she  wore  a  hat 
as  broad  as  a  buckler  or  a  target;  and  she  herself  informs 
us  that  upon  holidays  she  was  accustomed  to  wear  gay 
scarlet  gowns. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


125 


The  Carpenter’s  Wife,  the  heroine  of  the  Miller’s  Tale, 
has  her  dress  partly  described:  the  collar  of  her  shift  was 
embroidered  both  before  and  behind  with  black  silk;  her 
girdle  was  barred  or  striped  with  silk;  her  apron,  bound 
about  her  hips,  was  clean  and  white,  and  full  of  plaits. 
The  tapes  of  her  white  headdress  were  embroidered  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  collar  of  her  shift;  her  fillet,  or  head- 
band,  was  broad  and  was  made  of  silk,  and  “set  full  high”; 
probably  meaning  with  a  bow  or  topknot  on  the  upper 
part  of  her  head.  Attached  to  her  girdle  was  a  purse  of 
leather,  tasselled  or  fringed  with  silk,  and  ornamented  with 
latoun — a  kind  of  copper  alloy  of  which  ornaments  were 
made — in  the  shape  of  pearls.  She  wore  a  brooch  or 
fibula  upon  “her  low  collar,”  as  broad,  says  the  poet,  as 
the  boss  of  a  buckler;  her  shoes  “were  laced  high  upon 
her  legs.” 

In  addition  to  these  characters  of  Chaucer,  it  may  be 
added  that  the  country  Ale-Wife  is  thus  described  by  a 
contemporary  writer:  “She  put  on  her  fairest  smocke; 
her  petticoat  of  a  good  broad  red;  her  gowne  of  grey, 
faced  with  buckram;  her  square-thrumed  hat;  and  before 
her  she  hung  a  clean  white  apron.” 

The  subject  of  public  entertainment  in  the  Middle  Ages 
brings  to  light  curious  practices.  In  the  towns,  the  burghers 
were  not  willing  to  entertain  strangers  gratuitously,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  Scriptural  injunction  to  do  so,  reinforced 
by  the  reminder  that  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels 
unawares.  The  custom  of  offering  entertainment  to  trav¬ 
ellers  was,  however,  still  practised  in  the  country  districts, 
but  the  Anglo-Saxon  notion  of  three  days  as  a  reasonable 
limit  for  the  tarrying  of  wayfarers  seems  still  to  have  ob¬ 
tained.  Aside  from  the  public  inns,  rich  burghers  opened 
their  homes,  with  their  superior  comforts,  to  royal  per¬ 
sonages  and  to  rich  barons,  for  an  honorarium.  They 


126 


WOMAN 


frequently  practised  extortion  upon  their  accidental  guests, 
and  had  arts  to  allure  such  to  their  homes.  While  having 
the  appearance  of  great  exclusiveness,  they  nevertheless 
employed  persons  to  be  on  the  watch  for  travellers.  These 
would  approach  such  strangers,  engage  them  in  conversa¬ 
tion,  and,  on  pretence  of  being  from  the  same  part  of  the 
country,  offer  guidance  and  advice  to  the  stranger,  who 
was  usually  glad  to  be  directed  to  an  “exclusive”  place 
for  entertainment.  In  some  of  these  places,  as  well  as  in 
the  public  inns,  the  guest  would  be  beguiled  into  contract¬ 
ing  gambling  or  other  debts  beyond  his  ability  to  pay  in 
money,  whereupon  his  belongings  were  seized,  although 
their  value  might  be  greatly  in  excess  of  his  obligation. 
The  manners  and  morals  of  the  women  in  these  private 
places  of  entertainment  were  not  always  commendable. 

The  tavern  was  the  place  of  resort  for  a  large  part  of  the 
middle  class  and  practically  all  the  lower  class  of  mediaeval 
society.  Even  the  women  spent  much  of  their  time  gossip¬ 
ing  and  drinking  in  such  places,  where  they  found  great 
latitude  for  carrying  out  low  intrigues.  The  tavern  was, 
in  short,  the  great  rendezvous  for  those  who  sought  amuse¬ 
ment  of  any  sort.  It  was  the  ordinary  haunt  of  gamblers. 
In  one  of  the  fabliaux,  a  young  profligate  is  represented 
as  turning  into  a  tavern  before  which  the  tavern  boy  is 
calling  out  the  price  of  the  beverages  on  tap  there.  After 
inquiring  the  price  of  the  wines,  and  receiving  the  informa¬ 
tion  from  the  host,  the  latter  goes  on  to  enumerate  the 
attractions  of  his  house:  “Within  are  all  sorts  of  com¬ 
forts;  painted  chambers,  and  soft  beds,  raised  high  with 
white  straw,  and  made  soft  with  feathers;  here  within  is 
hostel  for  love  affairs,  and  when  bedtime  comes  you  will 
have  pillows  of  violets  to  hold  your  head  more  softly; 
and,  finally,  you  will  have  electuaries  and  rose-water,  to 
wash  your  mouth  and  face.”  He  orders  a  gallon  of  wine, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


127 


and  immediately  afterward  a  belle  demoiselle  makes  her 
appearance,  for  such  in  those  times  were  reckoned  among 
the  attractions  of  the  tavern.  It  is  soon  arranged  that  she 
shall  share  his  apartment  with  him,  and  then  a  general 
carousal  ensues  in  which  he  loses  all  his  money  and  has 
to  leave  even  his  clothes  in  payment  of  his  bill.  These 
alewives  were  looked  upon  as  past  masters  in  deceit,  and 
were  heartily  despised  by  those  who  did  not  fall  into  their 
clutches.  In  a  carved  miserere  in  Ludlow  Church,  repre¬ 
senting  Doomsday,  one  of  these  characters  is  depicted  as 
about  to  be  cast  into  the  jaws  of  hell,  carrying  with  her 
nothing  but  the  finery  of  her  enticement  and  her  short  ale 
measure.  The  amusements  of  the  times,  excepting  those 
of  a  grosser  order,  or  such  as  have  already  been  mentioned 
in  the  previous  chapter,  centred  around  the  nobility  and 
persons  of  position;  so  that  their  consideration  can  be  de¬ 
ferred  for  the  time  being  and  be  taken  up  in  connection 
with  the  sports  and  pastimes  of  the  ladies  of  rank,  as 
treated  in  the  chapter  following. 


' 


< 

•• 

► 

' 

'  . 

. 


' 


' 


Chapter  Vi 

®f)e  fflfomen  of  tfjc  i$lanots 


VI 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 

THE  limited  means  of  travel  and  communication  caused 
the  lives  of  the  women  of  the  early  English  manors  to  be 
secluded  and,  in  a  sense,  protected  the  wives  and  daugh¬ 
ters  of  the  titled  nobility.  The  manor  house  was  a  world 
to  itself,  a  centre  of  law,  of  society,  of  industry,  and,  oft- 
times,  of  culture. 

On  account  of  the  bad  state  of  the  roads  and  the  lack  of 
the  modern  convenience  of  quick  transmittal  of  informa¬ 
tion,  the  turmoils  and  upheavals  of  the  cities  left  the 
manors  unaffected  by  more  than  a  ripple  of  their  excite¬ 
ment.  The  manor  had  its  own  social  and  administrative 
system,  which  provided  for  the  performance  of  duties  by 
the  various  elements  of  the  manorial  establishment.  In 
times  of  wide  social  disorder,  the  manor,  by  reason  of  its 
isolation,  was  often  subject  to  attack;  then  the  courage 
and  fortitude  of  its  female  occupants  were  called  forth  to 
the  uttermost.  Women  whose  names  might  otherwise 
have  passed  into  obscurity  have  been  enrolled  among 
England’s  heroines  by  reason  of  just  such  circumstances; 
one  such,  whose  fame  carries  us  back  to  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  was  Lady  Joan  Pelham,  wife  of  Sir  John  Pelham, 
Constable  of  Pevensey  Castle.  While  Sir  John  was  in 
Yorkshire  with  the  Lancastrian  Duke  Henry,  fighting 
against  Richard  II.,  Pevensey  Castle  was  fiercely  attacked 

1 31 


1 32 


WOMAN 


by  Yorkist  forces.  The  continuance  of  the  siege  brought 
on  a  scarcity  of  provisions;  in  this  strait,  Lady  Joan  ad¬ 
dressed  a  letter  to  her  husband,  which,  besides  displaying 
the  courage  of  a  noble  English  lady,  has  the  additional 
interest  of  being  the  earliest  letter  extant  written  by  an 
English  woman  of  quality.  It  reads  as  follows: 

“My  Dere  Lorde: 

“I  recommande  me  to  yowr  hie  Lordeshippe  wyth  hert 
and  body  and  all  my  pore  myght,  and  wyth  all  this  1  think 
zou,  as  my  dere  Lorde,  derest  and  best  yloved  of  all  earth- 
lyche  Lordes;  I  say  for  me  and  thanke  yhow  me  dere 
Lorde,  with  all  thys  that  I  say  before,  off  your  comfortable 
lettre,  that  ze  send  me  from  Pownefraite  that  com  to  me 
on  Mary  Magdaleyn  day;  ffor  by  my  trowth  I  was  never 
so  gladd  as  when  I  herd  by  your  lettre  that  ye  warr 
stronge  ynogh  wyth  the  grace  off  God  for  to  kepe  yow 
fro  the  malyce  of  your  ennemys.  And  dere  Lorde  iff  it  lyk 
to  your  hyee  Lordeshippe  that  als  ye  myght,  that  smythe 
her  off  your  gracious  spede  whych  God  Allmyghty  con- 
tynue  and  encresse.  And  my  dere  Lorde,  if  is  lyk  zow 
for  to  know  of  my  ffare,  I  am  here  by  layd  in  a  manner 
off  a  sege,  wyth  the  counte  of  Sussex,  Sudray,  and  a  greet 
parsyll  off  Kentte;  so  that  I  ne  may  nogth  out,  nor  none 
vitayles  gette  me,  bot  wyth  myche  hard.  Wharfore  my 
dere  if  it  lyk  zow,  by  the  awyse  off  zowr  wyse  counsell, 
for  to  sett  remadye  off  the  salvation  off  yhower  castell  & 
wt.  stand  the  malyce  off  ther  sehures  foresayde.  And 
also  that  ye  be  fullyehe  enformede  off  there  grett  malyce 
wyker’s  in  these  schyres  whyche  yt  haffes  so  dispytffully 
wrogth  to  zow,  and  to  zowl  contell,  to  zhowr  men,  and  to 
zuor  tenaunts  ffore  this  cuntree,  have  yai  wastede  for  a 
grett  whyle.  Farewell  my  dere  Lorde,  the  Holy  Trynte 
zow  kepe  fro  zour  ennemys  and  son  send  me  gud  tythyngs 


MARRIAGE  OF  ISABELLA  OF  VALOIS.  TO 

RICHARD  II. 


V» 

§ 


S' 

Vi 

*  S> 

s 


'S 

Ssf1 

v 

fv 

Vj 

<0 


V 

k 

<o 


I 


Vi 

V 


I 


<^k 

a 

•52 

Si 

s* 

kj 

Si 

ss 

Sv 

50 

51 
*s 

S3 

<3 

5s 


? 

V 

S$ 

*N> 


O 

Nj 

<3 

<0 

<3 

Sk 

t>> 

£» 


k 

<8 

’Si 


LNi 


Si 

k 

Si 

<o 

.'o 

Si 

Oi 


.s 

Oi 

^k 

'•o 

Su 


s» 

Sy 

.<*0 

S> 

■3 

^2 

.k 

si 

<8 

V 

£ 

£ 


>Vi 

8) 

^k 

k 

k 

Si 

The 

<0 

<3 

k 

^k 

k 

s 

- 

k 

§8 

r  k 

^8 

Si 

s> 

%sT 

Si 

Si 

^k 

ki 

Krv 

rv 

| 

Si 

s^ 

rs 

Si 

Si 

V 

b/) 

Si 

s 

SQ 

'Viv 

?>. 

s* 

.  s» 

.Si 

• 

Vi 

*3 

»S 
*  Si 

V 


kS> 

*ts 

k 

k, 

k 

<8 


£ 

<8 

’SI 

Sy 

Si 

SI 

s 

•V 

<\k 

k 

V 

^k 


£ 

•$ 

<3 

s 

■ts 

Si 

<s 

3 

kN 


V 

Vi 

V> 

<8 


S 

k 
<2 
*0 
.  V) 

SI 

$ 

O 

8> 


TS> 

.^3 

Si 

3 

■s- 

s> 

ty 

3 

k 

3 

3 

3 

V 

sf 

V 


3 

Ok 


Vi 
>8 
*  Si 

,<o 

Si 

k 

*3 

Si 

*S 

3 


3q 

s»v 

^5> 

s 

k 

3 

V 

Si 


it 

SI 

s 

s 

■§ 


o 


V 

<8 

.3 

Vi 

Si 


Vi 

Vi 

k 

<3 

V 
3^ 

s 

3 

t-o 

&> 

.  V 
Si 

V 

3 

k$ 

S 

<5u 

k 

^ik 

<8 


Si 

Sv 

'Ki 

si 

Ok 


SI 

,  s 

SI 


Si 

s 

Si 

Si 

oa 

^0 

Siv 

s 

S^ 

Si 


^8 

Si 

S. 

k 

Si 

s 

s^ 


k 

s> 

Si 

s 

Si 

.  s 
os 

^8 


^0 


^8 

.k 

Si 

Si 

s 

<8 

S, 

Si^ 

s 

s 

k> 

Vj 


'Ki 

Si 

Ss 


■  ^ 
\ 


■  Si 

k* 

•  <^k 

Si 


Vi 

Si 

.  s 

Si 

Vi 

K>i 


Si 

k 


^0 

s 


■  ^ 


^ik 

ti 

.So 

S8 

Si 

s 


$ 

rSi 

.  ^ 

Si 

Si 

s 

s> 

s5^ 


•k 

Si 

Ss 

k 


‘0 


*< 


^k 

Vi 


k 

^k 

Vi 

k 

k 

k8 

8 

S> 

os 


’S  ^o 


^k 

<Sk 

k 

S8 


<>4 

-kk 

Si 


. 

•  ..  :  ■  ■  •  • 


i 

- 

<"■  -X  '  '■ 

^  ■  '’-v  ■  ■  •  •  ••  • 


:  '  »  '  V  •  'o*  " 


■  r,  ■ 


'  t..-  ■  ’  ,r 

>  ^  -  -•  :  .  ; 

-  . 5 

■  ,  ....  -  -■ 

1  y  —  •  _ 

•  '  '$  • 


.A  ■**'  '  • 

£'  f, 

< ,  ■  ....  :• 


-  ,  • 


«  ,, 


J»i 


Copyright ,  IQ07,  by  George  Barrie  Sons. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


133 


off  yhovv.  Ywryten  at  Pevensey  in  the  castell,  on  Saynt 
Jacobe  day  last  past. 

“  By  yhowr  awnn  pore, 

"J.  Pelham. 

“To  my  trew  Lorde.” 

While  her  position  gave  her  equal  rank  with  her  hus¬ 
band,  it  also  laid  upon  the  lady  of  the  manor  the  cares 
natural  to  her  station.  A  great  lady  had  always  her 
bodyguard  of  maidens,  and  the  lord  his  following  of  pages, 
these  young  people  being  thus  provided  for  that  they 
might  receive  the  training  of  gentility  and  courtesy  which 
were  the  essentials  in  the  character  of  the  noble  persons 
of  the  times.  These  maidens,  who  were  intrusted  to  the 
care  of  the  lady  of  the  manor,  had  to  be  trained  in  all 
domestic  accomplishments  as  well  as  in  polite  attainments. 
It  is  singular  that  this  custom  of  sending  children  from 
home  was  often  interpreted  by  foreigners  as  an  evidence 
of  a  lack  of  parental  affection;  and,  indeed,  it  did  at  times 
furnish  a  means  of  easy  riddance  of  daughters  whose 
tempers  were  incompatible  with  those  of  their  parents,  or 
whose  self-will — or  the  selfish  policy  of  the  household — 
made  it  desirable  for  the  parents  to  sever  the  tie  which 
lacked  the  strength  of  affection.  Thus,  in  1469,  Dame 
Margaret  Paston  writes  to  her  son,  Sir  John  Paston,  re¬ 
garding  his  sister  Margery:  “I  wuld  ye  shuld  purvey  for 
yur  suster  to  be  with  my  Lady  of  Oxford,  or  with  my 
Lady  of  Bedford,  or  in  sume  other  wurshepfull  place, 
wher  as  ye  thynk  best,  and  I  wull  help  to  her  fyndyng, 
for  we  be  eyther  of  us  werye  of  other.’ ’ 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  fashion  of  the  times — more 
particularly  of  the  latter  part  of  the  Middle  Ages — that  a 
knight’s  lady  performed  many  of  the  functions  of  a  mis¬ 
tress  of  a  boarding  school.  Those  intrusted  to  her  care, 


134 


WOMAN 


regardless  of  their  rank  or  station,  were  subjected  to  rigid 
discipline  and  were  required  to  perform  the  arduous  duties 
of  the  household.  These  tasks  embraced  the  varied  forms 
of  plain  and  fancy  needlework,  for  every  lady  was  ex¬ 
pected  to  be  proficient  in  such  matters;  all  wearing  apparel 
and  fabrics  of  all  sorts  required  for  household  use,  and  the 
banners  and  altar  cloths  of  the  churches  as  well,  were 
made  in  the  household.  When  the  household  was  a  large 
one,  the  lady  and  her  maidens  were  kept  busily  employed 
in  attending  to  its  needs.  It  is,  however,  entirely  probable 
that  the  manufacture  of  the  coarser  materials  and  their 
making  into  clothing  were  delegated  to  the  servants,  of 
whom  every  manor  had  a  large  retinue.  The  designing 
and  making  of  the  costumes  of  the  wealthy — especially 
those  that  were  to  be  worn  on  court  and  other  high  occa¬ 
sions — were  given  over  to  professional  tailors,  who  were 
called  “  scissors.” 

The  round  of  domestic  duty  made  daily  drafts  upon  the 
time  of  the  wives.  In  every  family  of  the  higher  class,  the 
lady  of  the  household  had  to  see  to  the  provisioning  as  well 
as  to  the  clothing  of  its  members  and  servitors.  This  was 
not  a  simple  matter,  as  the  provisions  had  to  be  supplied 
at  the  cost  of  great  inconvenience,  excepting  in  the  case  of 
the  products  of  the  manor  farms  belonging  to  the  estate. 
The  stewards’  accounts  are  often  a  valuable  source  of 
information  as  to  the  grade  of  living  of  the  times. 

In  view  of  the  industry  of  the  women  in  the  manufacture 
of  textile  fabrics,  the  poet’s  eulogy  is  deserved: 

“Of  gold  tissues,  and  cloth  of  silk ; 

Therefore  say  I,  whate’er  their  ilk, 

To  all  who  shall  this  story  find 
They  owe  them  all  to  womankind.” 

The  limits  of  the  manor  formed  the  horizon  of  its  women; 
the  men  frequently  had  to  make  long  journeys  in  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


135 


pursuit  of  their  larger  concerns,  and  were  often  in  foreign 
lands  serving  as  soldiers  or  crusaders.  But  the  lack  of 
variety  in  the  lives  of  the  women  was  more  than  compen¬ 
sated  for  by  the  opportunities  which  were  furnished  them 
by  quiet  and  seclusion  for  the  improvement  of  their  minds 
and  the  cultivation  of  those  finer  qualities  of  character 
which  are  the  basis  of  the  refinement  and  good  manners  of 
the  cultivated  English  women  of  the  present  day.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  of  the  Middle  Ages  that  without  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  manorial  living,  the  culture,  con¬ 
fidence,  self-containment,  and  initiative  of  the  English 
woman  would  not  have  become  as  they  are — her  predomi¬ 
nant  characteristics.  So  effectual,  indeed,  were  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  the  times  for  seclusion,  and  so  greatly  were  its 
privileges  appreciated,  that  it  could  be  said  of  many  a  fine 
lady,  as  was  asserted  of  Lady  Joan  Berkeley,  that  she 
never  “humored  herselfe  with  the  vaine  delightes  of 
London  and  other  cities,”  and  never  travelled  ten  miles 
from  her  husband’s  houses  in  Somerset  and  Gloucester. 

The  life  of  the  manors  was  not,  however,  a  round  of 
tireless  industry.  The  ruddy-cheeked,  simple-minded  Eng¬ 
lish  women  of  the  better  class  were  possessed  of  a  redun¬ 
dant  vitality  and  a  fund  of  joyousness  and  humor  which 
sought  and  found  expression  in  a  variety  of  healthful  out¬ 
door  recreations,  as  well  as  indoor  amusements.  The 
pleasing  art  of  letter  writing  had  come  to  hold  a  position 
of  interest  in  polite  circles;  for  although  the  women  may 
not  have  been  skilled  with  the  quill,  their  letters  were 
nevertheless  natural,  simple,  and  sincere,  and  they  were 
fairly  proficient  in  the  art  of  reading.  Their  religious 
duties  occupied  a  part  of  each  day,  as  did  their  visitation 
of  the  homes  of  the  dependants  on  the  estate;  for  it  was 
the  lady  of  the  manor  who  was  looked  to  by  the  poor  for 
herbal  medicines  and  such  delicacies  as  were  supplied  to 


136 


WOMAN 


the  sick.  Great  ladies  sometimes  recognized  their  duties 
to  the  poor  not  only  by  giving  individual  doles,  but  by 
founding  almshouses.  Nearly  every  lady  of  distinction 
felt  it  incumbent  upon  her  to  do  something  for  the  relief 
of  suffering  and  distress.  It  is  especially  pleasing  to  know 
that  it  was  the  women  whose  sensibilities  were  thus 
touched,  and  who  were  first  influenced  by  the  idea  of 
social  responsibility  for  the  less  fortunate  classes  of  soci¬ 
ety.  The  records  of  the  times  abound  with  instances  of 
benevolence  in  institutional  forms.  When  it  was  imprac¬ 
ticable  for  her  to  be  her  own  almoner,  the  lady  employed 
for  the  office  a  monk  or  a  priest,  and  so  associated  her 
charities  with  the  Church,  by  the  teachings  of  which  her 
impulses  were  trained.  The  saints’  days  were  customa¬ 
rily  observed  by  especial  and  important  contributions  for 
the  poor. 

Were  it  not  for  the  manors,  the  Middle  Ages  would  lack 
almost  altogether  poetry  and  literature  other  than  that  of  the 
monkish-chroniclers.  Literature  and  poetry  in  this  period 
were  chiefly  centred  around  the  women  of  the  nobility. 
It  was  probably  due  to  the  fondness  of  Henry  I.  for  letters 
that  a  literary  taste  was  excited  among  his  queens.  The 
earliest  specimens  existing  of  vernacular  poetry  are  some 
verses  addressed  to  Henry’s  second  spouse,  Adeliza.  Femi¬ 
nine  taste  and  royal  patronage  combined  to  free  poetry 
from  the  pollution  of  the  minstrel  and  his  circle  of  vulgar 
auditors,  to  cause  it  to  be  cultivated  by  studious  men  and 
women,  whose  tastes  had  become  refined  by  the  study  of 
the  Latin  classics,  and  who  were  themselves  emulous  of 
gaining  a  literary  reputation  by  the  cultivation  of  the  art 
of  serious  composition. 

Vernacular  poetry,  having  the  sanction  and  esteem  of 
the  higher  circles  of  life,  came  to  be  generally  appreciated; 
and  the  mind,  which  is  naturally  responsive  to  matters  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


137 


good  taste,  was  willing  to  throw  aside  the  incubus  of  low 
stories,  dependent  for  their  interest  upon  prurient  situa¬ 
tions,  and  to  rise  to  the  acceptance  of  literature  whose 
interest  centred  around  persons  and  situations  that  made 
their  appeal  by  reason  of  worthiness  or  dignity.  The 
patronage  of  letters  by  the  nobility  led  many,  especially 
ecclesiastics,  to  develop  their  talents  in  that  direction. 
Wace,  a  canon  of  Bayeux  and  a  prolific  rhymester,  ex¬ 
pressly  states  that  his  works  were  composed  for  the  “  rich 
gentry  who  had  rents  and  money.”  Even  the  stormy 
reign  of  Stephen  seems  to  have  been  no  impediment  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  literary  taste  which  had  its  beginning 
in  the  court  of  Henry  I.  and  in  the  patronage  of  his  queens. 
The  vernacular  histories  were  either  written  or  rendered 
into  the  popular  tongue,  and  in  this  way  became  the  intel¬ 
lectual  property  of  the  female  world;  they  were  not  infre¬ 
quently  inspired  by  the  wish  of  some  lady — a  wish  which 
became  the  law  of  the  lay  or  clerical  writer. 

The  story  of  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  the  unhappy  queen 
of  Henry  II.,  who  in  her  later  life  frequently  signed  her¬ 
self  “  queen  by  the  wrath  of  God,”  illustrates  a  phase 
of  domestic  infelicity  which  was  not  without  many  paral¬ 
lels.  It  also  serves  to  show  that,  with  the  perfervid 
sentiment  of  chivalrous  devotion  to  women,  it  was  easy 
enough  to  forget  the  higher  demands  of  faithfulness  in  the 
real  relations  of  life.  This  queen  herself  was  not  blame¬ 
less,  and  to  an  extent  must  be  regarded  as  suffering  the 
penalties  of  her  own  indiscretions.  The  story  is  almost 
too  familiar  to  need  reciting.  She  discovered  that,  although 
ostensibly  Henry's  wife,  the  position  was  really  filled  by 
one  with  whom  the  king  had  previously  contracted  mar¬ 
riage.  The  family  of  Rosamond  Clifford  was  as  respect¬ 
able  as  and  scarcely  less  illustrious  than  her  own.  During 
a  sojourn  at  Woodstock,  the  jealous  eye  of  the  queen  had 


WOMAN 


I  3  8 

observed  the  king  following  a  silk  thread  through  the 
labyrinth  of  trees,  by  which  means  she  came  to  know  of 
her  rival.  The  meeting  of  the  two  women  can  better  be 
imagined  than  described:  the  queen  poured  out  a  torrent 
of  reproaches  and  invectives,  ending  by  offering  to  Rosa¬ 
mond  the  cup  of  poison  or  a  dagger,  and  did  not  leave  the 
place  until  the  victim  of  her  jealousy  was  no  more. 

But  the  tragic  death  of  Rosamond  did  not  serve  to  enlist 
for  the  queen  the  affections  of  her  consort,  nor  did  it  tend 
to  promote  her  domestic  peace.  Never  was  a  family  so 
torn  by  dissension  and  sin;  her  children  were  arrayed 
against  their  father  and  one  another,  and  all  were  opposed 
to  herself.  Her  husband  added  to  her  many  troubles  the 
further  shame  of  installing  in  her  place  the  wife  of  his  son. 
Seeking  release  from  a  situation  past  all  endurance,  she 
eloped  from  a  castle  in  Aquitaine,  intending  to  find  an 
asylum  in  the  dominions  of  King  Louis  of  France,  her  former 
husband.  She  was  captured  by  Henry’s  myrmidons  and 
thrown  into  prison,  there  to  remain  sixteen  years  until 
liberated  by  her  renowned  son,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 
The  sufferings  of  her  life  tempered  her  spirit  and  brought 
her  into  reliance  upon  religion  for  her  comfort  and  strength. 

Another  example  of  the  high  courage  and  decision  of 
purpose  which  the  life  of  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine  furnished 
in  its  later  history  is  found  at  a  subsequent  period  in  an¬ 
other  Eleanor,  the  daughter  of  Edward  II.  This  patient, 
suffering  wife,  roused  to  indignant  resistance  of  an  unpar¬ 
donable  indignity,  exhibited  the  spirit  of  an  undaunted 
character.  She  had  been  married,  at  the  tender  age  of 
fifteen,  to  the  stern  Reynald  II.,  Earl  of  Gueldres  and 
Zutphen.  When  the  large  dower  she  brought  her  hus¬ 
band  had  been  spent  by  him,  he  sought  pretext  for  a 
divorce  from  one  with  whom  he  could  feel  no  sym¬ 
pathy;  but  for  this  her  blameless  life  furnished  no  excuse. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


139 


Although  the  countess  was  constantly  surrounded  by  spies 
and  her  every  act  and  word  reported  to  her  lord,  she 
moved  with  stately  dignity  in  the  atmosphere  of  intrigue 
and  deceit.  In  default  of  any  other  plea,  her  husband 
represented  to  the  pope  that  she  was  afflicted  with  leprosy. 
Arrayed  solely  in  a  tunic,  and  enveloping  herself  in  a 
capacious  mantle,  she  made  her  way  with  majestic  mien 
into  the  council  room  of  the  palace,  where  the  perfidious 
lord  was  in  consultation  with  his  assembled  nobles  about 
the  details  of  the  sinister  purpose  which  he  was  seeking  to 
effect.  With  the  words,  “I  am  come,  my  beloved  lord, 
to  seek  a  diligent  examination  respecting  the  corporeal 
taint  imputed  to  me,”  she  threw  aside  the  mantle,  disclos¬ 
ing  the  healthy  texture  of  her  skin,  while  a  wave  of  emo¬ 
tion  passed  over  her,  and  her  eyes  suffused  with  tears. 
“  These,”  she  continued,  “are  my  children  and  yours;  do 
they  too  share  in  the  blemish  of  their  mother?  But  it  may 
come  to  pass  that  the  people  of  Gueldres  may  yet  mourn 
our  separation,  when  they  behold  the  failure  of  our  line.” 
Husband  and  nobles  alike  were  profoundly  affected  by 
so  sublime  an  appeal,  and  the  royal  pair  were  recon¬ 
ciled;  but  the  male  line  of  Reynald  failed  in  his  son,  and 
the  crown  passed  to  the  female  branch,  as  though  the 
almost  predictive  words  of  the  noble  English  woman  were 
destined  to  be  fulfilled. 

Yet  another  daughter  of  fair  France  became  the  queen 
of  a  Plantagenet.  Richard  II.,  the  last  Plantagenet,  from 
the  date  of  his  accession,  was  involved  in  constant  strug¬ 
gles,  first  with  his  Parliament,  and  then  with  Henry  of 
Lancaster.  His  first  queen,  Anne  of  Bohemia,  died  in 
1394.  Richard’s  thoughts  were  thereupon  directed  to  the 
necessity  of  choosing  a  second  consort.  He  would  consider 
only  Isabelle  of  Valois,  daughter  of  Charles  VI.,  who  was 
less  than  nine  years  old.  The  marriage  was  solemnized 


140 


WOMAN 


by  proxy,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  the  king  to 
repair  to  Calais  and  receive  his  child-bride  at  the  hand  of 
Charles  VI.  The  preliminaries  having  been  completed, 
the  ceremony  is  thus  recorded  by  Froissart: 

“  On  the  morrow,  the  King  of  England  visited  the  King  of 
France  in  his  tent,  where  the  kings  sat  apart  at  one  table. 
During  the  serving  of  dinner,  the  Duke  de  Bourbon  said 
many  things  to  enliven  the  kings,  and  addressed  the  King 
of  England:  ‘ Monseigneur,  you  ought  to  make  good  cheer; 
you  have  all  you  desire  and  demand.  You  have,  or  will 
have,  your  wife,  she  is  about  to  be  given  to  you/  The 
French  king  then  said:  ‘  Bourbonnais,  we  could  wish  that 
our  daughter  were  of  the  age  of  our  cousin  of  Saint-Pol, 
although  it  should  have  cost  us  dearly,  for  our  son  of 
England  would  have  taken  her  more  willingly/ 

“The  King  of  England  heard  this  and  responded  to  the 
French  king:  ‘Father-in-law,  our  wife’s  age  pleases  us 
well;  we  think  less  of  that  than  we  do  of  the  affection 
between  us  and  our  kingdoms,  for  with  mutual  friendship 
and  alliance,  there  is  no  king,  Christian  or  other,  who 
could  give  umbrage  to  us.’  The  dinner  was  soon  over, 
and  then  the  young  Queen  of  England  was  brought  into 
the  king’s  tent,  accompanied  by  a  great  number  of  dames 
and  demoiselles,  and  given  to  the  King  of  England,  her 
hand  being  held  by  her  father,  the  King  of  France.” 

This  marriage  brought  nearly  twenty  years  of  peace 
between  France  and  England.  The  young  queen  was 
carefully  nurtured  and  educated  by  King  Richard,  whose 
attachment  to  her  soon  grew  very  deep.  Turbulent  fac¬ 
tions  disturbed  Richard’s  rule,  and  Isabelle  had  always 
before  her  the  menace  of  a  prison  rather  than  the  prospect 
of  a  throne.  Before  leaving  to  quell  a  rebellion  in  Ireland, 
Richard  visited  his  “  little  queen,”  for  thus  she  was  popu¬ 
larly  styled,  at  Windsor  Castle,  to  take  farewell.  This 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS  141 

interview,  at  which  it  is  said  the  young  queen  first  realized 
how  deeply  she  loved  the  king,  was  to  be  their  last. 
Henry  of  Lancaster,  taking  advantage  of  Richard’s  absence 
to  gather  a  force  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  him,  met  Rich¬ 
ard  on  his  return,  made  him  captive,  and  finally  secured 
his  resignation  of  the  crown  in  1 399.  Simultaneously,  the 
young  queen  fell  into  Henry’s  power,  and  was  moved 
from  castle  to  castle  at  the  will  of  Henry.  All  this  time 
she  was  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  fate  of  her  husband,  and 
tortured  by  suspense  and  anxiety.  Richard  alive  was  too 
serious  a  danger  to  Henry’s  supremacy,  and,  a  plot  to 
restore  him  to  his  throne  having  failed,  he  was  killed  at 
Pontefract  Castle  soon  after,  in  a  heroic  struggle  against 
the  myrmidons  of  Henry. 

Meantime,  the  “little  queen  ”  had  joined  in  the  movement 
against  Henry,  in  the  hope  that  her  husband  would  recover 
his  crown  and  be  restored  to  her,  but  she  was  soon  again 
a  captive  at  Havering  Bower.  For  some  time  the  child- 
widow — she  was  not  yet  thirteen — was  kept  in  ignorance 
of  the  death  of  Richard.  Soon,  however,  she  was  impor¬ 
tuned  by  Henry  IV.  on  behalf  of  Monmouth,  his  son,  but, 
faithful  to  the  memory  of  Richard,  she  rejected  with  horror 
the  proposed  union.  Finally,  all  hope  of  the  alliance  being 
destroyed,  Henry  consented  to  Isabelle’s  return  to  her 
parents.  She  had  endeared  herself  to  the  hearts  of  the 
English  by  her  graces,  and  especially  by  her  steadfast 
devotion  to  Richard. 

After  Isabelle’s  return  to  France,  Henry  still  persisted 
in  suing  for  her  hand,  but  it  was  impossible  to  move  her 
determination.  In  1406,  it  seemed  that  joy  might  yet 
brighten  the  life  of  this  unfortunate  princess,  for  in  that 
year  she  was  betrothed  to  her  cousin,  the  young  Charles 
of  Orleans,  whom  she  married  in  1409.  The  affec¬ 
tion  of  husband  and  wife  appeared  to  offer  every  prospect 


142 


WOMAN 


of  happiness,  but  she  was  permitted  to  enjoy  her  newly 
found  state  for  only  a  brief  period,  as  she  died  during  the 
following  year,  a  few  hours  after  the  birth  of  an  infant 
daughter.  The  memory  of  this  sweet  but  unfortunate 
princess  is  enshrined  in  the  poetic  tributes  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  nor  did  the  English  fail  to  sing  in  ballads  her 
praise. 

The  origin  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter  is  traceable  to  the 
spirit  of  chivalry;  it  was  instituted  by  Coeur  de  Lion,  and 
in  1344  was  revived  by  Edward  III.  Froissart  appears  to 
credit  the  story  which  connects  the  revival  of  the  order 
to  Edward’s  passion  for  the  Countess  of  Salisbury,  whose 
garter  he  is  said  to  have  picked  up  and  presented  to  her 
in  the  presence  of  the  court,  with  this  exclamation:  Honi 
soit  qui  maly  pense!  The  chronicler  gives  us  a  full  account 
of  the  attachment  of  Edward  for  the  countess,  and  places 
in  excellent  light  the  integrity  of  her  character.  When 
she  was  besieged  in  her  husband’s  castle  at  Wark,  Edward 
advanced  to  her  relief,  compelling  the  Scots  to  retreat. 
At  the  interview  which  followed,  the  king  looked  upon  her 
with  such  an  air  of  profound  thoughtfulness  that  she  was 
led  to  inquire:  “Dear  sire,  what  are  you  musing  on? 
Such  meditation  is  not  proper  for  you,  saving  your  grace.” 
“Oh,  dear  lady!”  replied  the  monarch;  “you  must  know 
that  since  I  have  been  in  this  castle,  some  thoughts  have 
oppressed  my  mind  that  I  was  not  before  aware  of.” 
“  Dear  sire,  you  ought  to  be  of  good  cheer,  and  leave  off 
such  pondering;  for  God  has  been  very  bountiful  to  you 
in  your  undertakings.”  Whereupon  the  king  replied  with 
more  directness:  “There  be  other  things,  O  sweet  lady, 
which  touch  my  heart,  and  lie  heavy  there,  beside  what 
you  talk  of.  In  good  truth,  your  beauteous  mien  and  the 
perfection  of  your  face  and  behavior  have  wholly  over¬ 
come  me;  and  my  peace  depends  on  your  accepting  my 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


143 


love,  which  your  refusal  cannot  abate.”  “My  gracious 
liege,”  the  countess  exclaimed,  “God  of  his  infinite  good¬ 
ness  preserve  you,  and  drive  from  your  noble  heart  all 
evil  thoughts;  for  I  am,  and  ever  shall  be,  ready  to  serve 
you;  but  only  in  what  is  consistent  with  my  honor  and 
your  own.” 

The  first  chapter  of  the  Garter  was  graced  by  another 
queen  who  adorns  the  history  of  England’s  women  of 
rank — Queen  Philippa.  She  was  attended  by  the  princi¬ 
pal  ladies  of  the  court,  who,  with  herself,  were  admitted 
dame-companions  of  the  order,  and  the  wives  of  the  knights 
continued  to  enjoy  this  dignity  during  several  succeeding 
reigns. 

In  even  the  best  homes  of  the  Middle  Ages  we  must 
not  expect  to  find  the  refinements  which  are  regarded  as 
the  commonplaces  of  modern  life.  The  essence  of  refine¬ 
ment  is  the  same  in  all  ages,  and,  while  it  involves  man¬ 
ners,  these  change  with  the  standards  and  conventions  of 
different  times.  Much  that  is  amusing,  absurd,  or  even 
disgusting,  as  we  regard  manners  to-day,  was  entirely  in 
good  form  during  the  Middle  Ages.  It  will  be  of  interest 
to  notice  some  of  the  things  which  were  regarded  as  com¬ 
mendable  in  the  deportment  of  the  young  ladies  of  the 
aristocratic  class  of  mediaeval  society,  and  what  they  were 
cautioned  to  avoid.  A  trouvere  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
named  Robert  de  Blois,  compiled  a  code  of  etiquette  which 
he  put  in  French  verse  under  the  title,  Chastisement  des 
Dames.  The  young  ladies  who  would  deport  themselves 
in  an  irreproachable  manner  must  avoid  talking  too  much, 
and  especially  refrain  from  boasting  of  the  attentions  paid 
to  them  by  the  other  sex.  They  were  recommended  to 
be  discreet,  and,  in  the  freedom  of  games  and  amuse¬ 
ments,  to  leave  no  room  for  adverse  criticism  of  their 
actions.  In  going  to  church,  they  were  not  to  trot  or  run, 


144 


WOMAN 


but  to  walk  with  due  seriousness,  with  eyes  straight  before 
them,  and  to  salute  debonairely  all  persons  they  met.  They 
were  enjoined  not  to  let  men  kiss  them  on  the  mouth,  as 
it  might  lead  to  too  great  familiarity;  they  were  not  to 
look  at  a  man  too  much  unless  he  were  an  acknowledged 
lover;  and  when  a  young  woman  had  a  lover,  she  was 
not  to  talk  too  much  of  him.  They  were  not  to  manifest 
too  much  vanity  in  dress,  and  to  be  entirely  delicate  in 
the  matter  of  costume;  nor  were  they  to  be  too  ready 
in  accepting  presents  from  the  other  sex.  The  ladies  are 
particularly  warned  against  scolding  and  disputing,  against 
swearing,  against  eating  and  drinking  too  freely  at  the 
table.  They  were  exhorted  not  to  get  drunk,  a  practice 
from  which,  they  were  advised,  much  mischief  might  arise. 
That  the  restrictions  were,  on  the  whole,  sensible  is  appar¬ 
ent  from  our  statement  of  them,  and  the  good  sense  of  the 
times  receives  special  point  from  the  rule  of  society  which 
recommended  the  ladies  not  to  cover  their  faces  when  in 
public,  as  a  handsome  face  was  made  to  be  seen.  An  ex¬ 
ception  is  made  in  the  case  of  ugly  or  deformed  features, 
which  might  be  covered.  Another  rule  was  as  follows: 
“A  lady  who  is  pale-faced  or  who  has  not  a  good  smell 
ought  to  breakfast  early  in  the  morning,  for  good  wine 
gives  them  a  very  good  color;  and  she  who  eats  and 
drinks  well  must  heighten  her  color.”  Anise  seed,  fennel, 
and  cumin  were  recommended  to  be  taken  at  breakfast  to 
correct  an  unsavory  breath,  and  persons  so  affected  were 
told  not  to  breathe  in  other  persons’  faces. 

A  special  set  of  rules  was  given  for  the  lady’s  behavior 
while  in  church,  and  if  she  could  sing  she  was  to  do  so 
when  asked  and  not  require  too  much  pressing.  Ladies 
were  further  recommended  to  keep  their  hands  clean,  to 
cut  their  nails  often,  and  not  to  suffer  them  to  grow  be¬ 
yond  the  finger  or  to  harbor  dirt.  When  passing  the 


w 

m 

£ 

W 

Ph 

> 

< 


£ 

k 

to 

3 


."k 

"k 

'V 

k 

v> 

iN» 

k 

k 

53 

•h 

.k 

r«i 

k 

k 

53 


<0 

t» 

3? 

Vi 
.  X 
Vi 

•Si 

Vs 

53 


.k 

Vi 

k 

Jk 

^3 

k 

a 


1— 1 
o 

k 

k 

a 

^0 

N 

V 

Tk 

“V 

V 

V 

^3 

H 

V 
*  V 

Q 

k 

Vi 

V 

Vk 

M 

o 

V 

\> 

^3 

k 

*JV 

'tv 

°0 

in 

5> 

Vi 

o 

Vi 

Vs 
*  Vi 

H— 1 

After 

k 

<o 

53 

o 

V 

■  k) 

k 

k 


■-U 

R 


£ 

53 

<V 

<0 


b 

k 

k 

k 


k 

<53 

k 


.k 

*§ 

£ 

k 


£ 


£ 

53 

k 

V, 

5T 

k 

k 
53 
k 
.  k 

*V1 

k 

$ 


§ 

■8 

Vi 


*53 

k 

.& 

f-H 

& 

k 


k 


.k 

<?o 

k 

§ 


■8 

53 

k 

is 

?53 

> 


k 

•s 

k 

53 

.k 

Vi 

k 

k 

k 

k 

k 

k 

k 

k 

k 

<s» 


k 

k 


,  k 

hk 


*53 

k 

<33 

.k 

Vi 

k 

& 

53 


£ 

[55 

<V 

53 

k 

.k 

k 

<3 

k 

k> 

^ki 

k 

Sd 

k 

k 

k 

wVi 


b 

Vi 

Vi 

V 
.  k 

,53 

rO 

<0 

<0 

^ki 

v* 


.  ^ 
vi 


■  -Vi 


k 

k 

<-n 

k 

k 

k 

k 


k 

k 

*S> 

k 

k 

k 

£ 


k 

kN. 


Vi 
.  V* 
Vi 


k 

k 

*vi 


•S 


k 

k 

.& 

^0 

k 

.k 

Vi 

§3 

$> 


k 

k 

Kk 

Si 


<u 

c/2 

C 

<U 

Oh 

!V 


d 


a 

CT 


O 

C/2 


3 

k 

’"k? 

k 


*53 

Vi 

V* 

'o 

k 

*53 

Vi 


o 

ffi 


.k 

'ES 

^k 

5 


»Vi 

rk 

Vi 

Vi 

kj 

<k> 

^Vi 

k 

^3 


s 

Ai 

N 

V 

k 

<3 

k 

^3 

k 

k 

^Nj 


k 

k 

k 

^3 

Vi 

t3 


k 

k 

k» 

k 

Q 

k 

^3 

k3 

k 

k 

k 

<53 


Vi 

Vs. 

Vi 

^3 

>v 

*^v 

<8f 

■k 

s 

I 


k 

k 

k 

53 

53 


4 9  OV/l'y'  W'd/ynJ 


4 9 Oy'/lnf  %r^//>nJ 


I 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


145 


houses  of  other  people,  ladies  were  not  to  look  into  them: 
“for  a  person  often  does  things  privately  in  his  house, 
which  he  would  not  wish  to  be  seen,  if  anyone  should 
come  before  his  door.”  For  the  same  reason  a  lady  was 
not  to  go  into  another  person’s  house,  or  into  another’s 
room,  without  coughing  or  speaking  to  give  notice  to  the 
inmates.  The  directions  for  a  lady’s  behavior  at  the  table 
were  also  very  precise.  “In  eating,  you  must  avoid 
much  laughing  or  talking.  If  you  eat  with  another  (i.  e., 
in  the  same  plate,  or  of  the  same  mess),  turn  the  nicest 
bits  to  him  and  do  not  go  picking  out  the  finest  and  largest 
for  yourself,  which  is  not  courteous.  Moreover,  no  one 
should  eat  greedily  a  choice  bit  which  is  too  large  or  too 
hot,  for  fear  of  choking  or  burning  herself.  .  .  .  Each 

time  you  drink,  wipe  your  mouth  well,  that  no  grease  go 
into  the  wine,  which  is  very  unpleasant  for  the  person 
who  drinks  after  you.  But  when  you  wipe  your  mouth 
for  drinking,  do  not  wipe  your  eyes  or  nose  with  the  table¬ 
cloth,  and  avoid  spilling  from  your  mouth  or  greasing  your 
hands  too  much.”  Added  to  these  directions  for  deport¬ 
ment,  particular  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  avoidance  of 
falsehoods,  which  suggests  the  prevalence  of  the  vice. 

The  modern  “servant  question”  was  not  without  its 
counterpart  in  the  Middle  Ages.  We  find  instances  of 
advice  tendered  upon  the  subject  to  the  ladies  of  those 
times.  An  early  writer  on  domestic  economy  divided  the 
servants  who  might  be  found  in  a  manorial  establishment 
into  three  classes:  those  who  were  employed  on  a  sudden 
and  only  for  a  certain  work,  and  for  these  a  previous  bar¬ 
gain  should  be  made  regarding  their  payment;  those  who 
were  employed  for  a  certain  time  in  a  particular  descrip¬ 
tion  of  work,  as  tailors,  shoemakers,  butchers,  and  others, 
who  always  came  to  work  in  the  house  upon  materials 
provided  there,  or  the  harvest  men  for  the  gathering  of 


146 


WOMAN 


the  crops;  and  domestic  servants  who  were  hired  by  the 
year,  these  latter  being  expected  to  pay  an  absolute  and 
passive  obedience  to  the  lord  and  lady  of  the  household 
and  any  others  who  were  set  in  authority  over  them. 

Naturally,  it  was  the  female  servants  who  came  under 
the  supervision.  of  the  lady  of  the  house,  and  minute 
directions  are  given  for  their  ordering.  She  was  to  re¬ 
quire  her  maids  to  repair  early  in  the  morning  to  their 
work;  the  entrance  to  the  hall  and  all  other  places  by 
which  people  enter,  or  places  in  the  hall  where  they  tarry 
to  converse,  were  to  be  swept  and  made  clean,  “and  that 
the  footstools  and  covers  of  the  benches  and  forms  be 
dusted  and  shaken,  and  after  this  that  the  other  chambers 
be  in  like  manner  cleaned  and  arranged  for  the  day.” 
After  this,  the  pet  animals  were  to  be  attended  to  and 
fed.  At  midday  the  servants  were  to  have  their  first 
meal,  which  was  to  be  bountiful,  but  “only  of  one  meat 
and  not  of  several,  or  of  any  delicacies;  and  give  them 
only  one  kind  of  drink,  nourishing  but  not  heady,  whether 
wine  or  other;  and  admonish  them  to  eat  heartily,  and  to 
drink  well  and  plentifully,  for  it  is  right  that  they  should 
eat  all  at  once,  without  sitting  too  long,  and  at  one  breath, 
without  reposing  on  their  meal  or  halting,  or  leaning  with 
their  elbows  on  the  table;  and  as  soon  as  they  begin  to 
talk  or  to  rest  on  their  elbows,  make  them  rise  and  remove 
the  table.”  After  their  “  second  labor  ”  and  on  feast  days 
also — when  seemingly  the  workday  was  not  so  long  as 
usual — they  were  to  have  another  lighter  repast,  and  in 
the  late  evening,  after  all  their  duties  were  performed, 
another  abundant  meal  was  served.  It  then  devolved 
upon  the  lady  of  the  house  or  her  deputy  to  see  that  the 
manor  was  closed,  and  to  take  charge  of  the  keys,  pre- 
-  venting  anyone  from  going  in  or  out;  and  then,  having 
had  all  the  fires  carefully  “  covered,”  she  sent  the  servants 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


147 


to  bed  and  saw  that  their  candles  were  extinguished  to 
prevent  the  risk  of  fire.  The  lady  was  always  careful 
as  to  whom  she  received  into  her  house  as  servitors; 
female  servants  who  came  to  her  as  strangers  were  not 
well  regarded,  and  were  not  given  trusts  of  importance, 
and  their  characters,  so  far  as  was  possible,  were  looked 
into,  as  well  as  the  circumstances  of  their  leaving  their 
former  place  of  employment. 

The  term  “spinster,”  which  is  now  confined  to  unmar¬ 
ried  women,  was  a  term  of  consideration  applied  to  all 
women  of  the  better  class  during  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was 
indicative  of  her  superior  rank,  and  was  especially  adhered 
to  by  gentlewomen  who  married  out  of  their  station,  as  a 
sign  of  their  good  birth  and  gentle  breeding. 

The  term  “gentle  blood,”  as  now  understood,  means 
only  that  some  persons  have  the  fortunate  circumstance 
of  refined  parentage  or  ancestry;  but  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
when  the  pride  of  gentle  blood  was  one  of  the  most  dis¬ 
tinguishing  characteristics  of  the  prevailing  feudal  society, 
it  was  seriously  believed  that  through  the  whole  extent 
of  the  aristocratic  classes  there  ran  one  blood,  distinguish¬ 
able  from  the  blood  of  all  other  persons.  So  strongly  was 
this  view  entertained,  that  it  was  commonly  thought  that 
if  a  child  of  gentle  blood  should  be  stolen  or  abandoned  in 
infancy,  and  then  bred  up  as  a  peasant  or  a  burgher, 
without  knowledge  of  its  origin,  it  would  display,  as  it 
grew  toward  manhood,  unmistakable  proofs  of  its  gentle 
origin,  in  spite  of  education  and  example.  Whatever  the 
fallacy  of  this  belief,  its  effect  upon  the  ladies  of  superior 
birth  was  to  make  them  prize  their  station  highly;  but  it 
also  created  a  spirit  of  haughtiness  toward  those  who  were 
below  their  station,  and  a  harshness  in  their  relation  to 
their  domestics  which  was  not  always  conformable  to  the 
graciousness  and  consideration  which  these  very  ladies 


148 


WOMAN 


often  displayed  where  there  was  no  question  involving 
their  caste. 

In  considering  the  dress  of  the  women  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  we  remarked  upon  the  censure  and  sarcasm  which 
were  passed  upon  the  vanities  into  which  women  were  led 
by  their  devotion  to  the  changing  fashions  of  the  day. 
Every  class  of  society  was  pervaded  by  a  love  of  dress, 
which  expressed  itself  in  the  greatest  extravagarrees-and 
absurdities.  A  knight  of  the  fourteenth  century  compiled 
for  three  young  ladies,  the  daughters  of  a  knight  of  Nor¬ 
mandy,  a  manuscript  which  contains  advice  and  directions 
for  the  regulation  of  their  conduct  through  life.  It  Con¬ 
tains  several  very  curious  passages  relative  to  dress: 
“Fair  daughters,”  says  their  mentor,  “  I  pray  you  that 
ye  be  not  the  first  to  take  new  shapes  and  guises  of  array 
of  women  of  strange  countries.”  He  then  inveighs  against 
the  wearing  of  superfluous  quantities  of  furs  as  edging  for 
their  gowns,  their  hoods,  and  their  sleeves.  After  com¬ 
menting  upon  the  sinfulness  of  useless  fashions  and  their 
effect  upon  the  lower  classes,  he  proceeds  to  portray  the 
absurdities  into  which  the  latter  were  led  by  aping  their 
betters,  and  suggests  that  the  furs  which  they  wore  in 
profusion  had  better  at  least  be  dispensed  with  in  summer, 
as  they  served  only  “for  a  hiding  place  for  the  fleas.” 
The  knight  whose  daughters  are  thus  counselled  is  unable 
to  deter  them  from  falling  into  extravagances  of  attire,  and 
has  recourse  to  the  legend  of  a  chevalier  whose  wife  was 
dead  and  who  made  application  to  a  hermit  to  know  if  her 
soul  had  gone  to  Paradise  or  to  punishment.  The  holy 
man,  after  long  praying,  fell  asleep,  and  saw  the  soul  of 
the  fair  lady  weighed  in  the  balance,  with  Saint  Michael 
standing  on  one  side  and  the  Devil  on  the  other.  The 
latter  addressed  Saint  Michael  and  claimed  the  woman  as 
his  own  on  the  score  that  she  had  ten  diverse  gowns,  and 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS 


149 


a  less  number  than  that  would  have  sufficed  to  lose  her 
soul;  besides  which,  with  what  she  had  wasted  she  might 
have  clothed  two  or  three  persons  who  for  the  lack  of  her 
charity  died  of  want.  So  saying,  the  fiend  gathered  up  all 
her  gay  attire,  ornaments,  and  jewels,  and  cast  them  in 
the  balance  with  her  evil  deeds,  which  determined  the 
balance  against  her,  and  he  bore  her  away  to  the  lake  of 
fire.  The  same  night,  in  order  to  deter  his  daughters  from 
painting  their  faces,  the  knight  recounts  a  horrible  legend 
of  a  fine  lady  who  was  punished  in  hell  because  she  had 
“  popped  and  painted  her  visage  to  please  the  sight  of  the 
world.  ” 

It  is  not  by  such  incidentals  as  dress,  but  by  the  en¬ 
during  qualities  of  character,  that  the  women  of  the  higher 
circles  of  the  English  Middle  Ages  were  able  to  make  an  in¬ 
delible  impress  upon  the  life  and  character  of  the  nation. 
And  more  especially  may  this  be  said  of  the  women  whose 
lives  were  largely  spent  in  the  sheltered  circle  of  a  pure 
domesticity, — the  women  of  the  manors. 


'  . 

' 

'I 

■ 

. 

t  • 


.. 

' 

. 

. 

’ 


©ijaptct:  VM 

®hr  02Eomen  of  the  Jttouastcries 


VII 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 

IN  general,  the  routine  of  the  nunnery  was  the  same  as 
that  of  a  monastery.  There  was  the  same  rotation,  hour 
by  hour,  of  sacred  services,  with  monotonous  regularity 
and  repetition;  the  only  variety  offered  was  that  of  labor 
of  one  sort  or  another,  with  brief  intervals  for  rest  and 
refreshment.  The  industry  of  the  nuns  usually  took  the 
form  of  working  in  wool,  for  it  devolved  upon  them  to 
make  the  clothing  of  the  monks,  who  were  associated  with 
the  convents  to  perform  the  outdoor  labor  and  to  serve  as 
confessors  for  the  female  inmates.  Great  care  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  prevent  too  close  proximity  of  the  nunneries  and 
monasteries  and  to  limit  the  intercourse  of  the  inmates  of 
the  respective  institutions  to  the  bare  necessities  of  their 
mutual  dependence. 

The  rules  by  which  women  were  governed  in  the  life  of 
the  convent  did  not  differ  much  from  those  for  the  men. 
Some  of  these  regulations  were  very  rigorous:  the  inmates 
were  to  have  nothing  of  their  own,  nor  were  they  allowed 
to  go  out  of  the  convent,  and  they  were  permitted  the  luxury 
of  a  bath  only  in  time  of  sickness.  Continual  silence,  fre¬ 
quent  confessions,  a  spare  diet,  and  hard  labor  were  to  be 
endured  uncomplainingly,  on  penalty  of  excommunication. 

In  the  fifth  century,  prohibitions  were  issued  proscrib¬ 
ing  the  founding  of  any  more  monasteries  for  monks  and 

153 


154 


WOMAN 


nuns  together  and  ordering  the  partitioning  of  those  which 
already  existed.  No  man  excepting  the  officiating  clergy, 
the  bishop,  and  the  steward  of  the  convent  was  allowed 
to  enter  within  its  walls;  and,  indeed,  one  of  the  rules  en¬ 
joined  that  the  nuns  were  to  make  confession  to  the  bishop 
through  the  abbess.  Under  no  pretext  whatever  were  the 
nuns  to  lodge  under  the  roof  of  a  monastery,  nor  was  any 
person  who  was  not  a  monk  or  a  cleric  of  high  repute  to  be 


allowed  within  the  precincts  of  the  convent  on  temporal 


business;  but  in  spite  of  the  many  rules  by  which  they 
were  hedged  about,  in  the  eighth  century  nuns  are  found 


admitted  into  the  monasteries  on  the  ground  of  the  necessity 


for  their  presence  in  sickness  and  similar  emergencies 


Besides  the  nuns,  strictly  so  called,  in  the  eighth  arid 
subsequent  centuries  there  were  canonesses,  who  differed 
from  the  nuns  in  retaining  more  of  their  secular  character. 
Their  vows  were  not  perpetual,  and  they  confined  their 
labors  chiefly  to  the  instruction  of  the  children  of  the 
nobles. 

Having  cited  some  of  the  rules  for  the  government  of 
those  who  committed  themselves  to  the  life  of  the  nun,  it 
now  remains  to  perform  the  delicate  task  of  showing  the 
degree  of  success  which  attended  the  attempt  to  isolate  a 
class  of  unmarried  women,  that,  by  religious  offices  and 
meditations,  they  might  wholly  dedicate  their  time  and 
their  faculties  to  the  cultivation  of  the  Christian  graces, 
and  serve  as  the  benefactresses  of  the  poor  in  giving  alms 
at  the  convent  gate.  The  century  that  witnessed  the 
outbreak  of  the  Reformation  is  commonly  regarded  as 
exceptional  for  laxity  of  religious  principle  and  perversion 
of  the  institutional  ideals  of  the  Church;  but,  from  the 
eighth  century,  the  ecclesiastical  morality  was  of  such  a 
low  order  as  seriously  to  affect  the  moral  tone  of  the 
people  and  to  invalidate  the  efficacy  of  the  Church  as  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 


155 


teacher  of  religion.  The  celibacy  which  was  enjoined 
upon  the  clergy  was  largely  responsible  for  this  state  of 
affairs.  It  is  unfortunately  not  true  that  the  ages  of  faith, 
so  called,  were  ages  of  great  moral  purity.  In  spite  of  the 
interdict  of  councils,  priestly  marriages  were  looked  upon 
as  common  events.  The  marriage  of  priests  being  under 
the  ban  of  the  Church,  concubinage  was  regarded  as 
almost  a  legitimate  relationship,  and  carried  less  of  stigma 
than  the  proscribed  marriages.  It  is  not  singular  that  such 
impairment  of  moral  ideas  was  not  confined  to  the  priests, 
and  that  the  same  low  moral  tone  invaded  the  convents, 
many  of  whose  inmates  became  the  partners  of  the  priests 
in  their  derelictions. 

“The  known  luxury  and  believed  immoralities  of  the 
wealthy  monasteries  ”  in  England,  says  Sharon  Turner, 
“made  a  great  impression  on  the  public  mind.  Even 
some  of  the  clergy  became  ashamed  of  it,  and  contributed 
to  expose  it,  both  in  England  and  elsewhere. ”  Nor  was 
the  tone  of  morals  outside  the  cloister  of  higher  grade  than 
that  of  the  monks.  In  1212  a  council  commanded  the 
clergy  not  to  have  women  in  their  houses,  nor  to  suffer  in 
their  cloisters  assemblies  for  debauchery,  nor  to  entertain 
women  there.  Nuns  were  ordered  to  lie  single.  In  Eng¬ 
land,  these  and  many  other  moral  prohibitions  were  re¬ 
peated  at  various  intervals,  showing  that,  in  spite  of  the 
prevailing  corruption,  there  was  an  appreciation  of  pure 
ideals;  and  in  its  councils  the  Church  took  cognizance  of 
and  endeavored  to  stem  the  rising  tide  of  unchastity. 
Thus,  inquiries  were  made  in  1252  as  to  whether  the 
clergy  frequented  the  nunneries  without  reasonable  cause, 
and  a  year  or  two  afterward  an  inquisition  was  made  all 
over  England  into  the  character  and  actions  of  the  various 
religious  personages.  The  conduct  of  the  nuns  is  fre¬ 
quently  alluded  to  in  terms  of  the  severest  censure,  while 


156 


WOMAN 


the  ecclesiastics  were  enjoined  not  to  frequent  taverns  or 
public  spectacles,  or  to  resort  to  the  houses  of  loose  char¬ 
acters,  or  to  visit  the  nuns;  they  were  not  to  play  at  dice 
or  improper  games,  nor  to  leave  their  property  to  their 
children.  The  vices  of  the  clergy  were  the  unavoidable 
consequence  of  the  independence  of  their  hierarchy  from 
civil  control.  The  release  of  the  clergy  from  secular 
jurisdiction  was  productive  of  much  personal  depravity. 
They  had  to  fear  their  abbot  only,  and  he  was  frequently 
a  mild  censor  of  their  morals.  At  a  time  when  any  profli¬ 
gate  woman  of  position  might  retire  to  a  convent  and,  by 
elevation  or  appointment,  become  abbess,  it  is  not  strange 
that  the  moral  tone  of  the  convent  was  not  determined  by 
the  rules  of  the  order,  but  by  the  standards  which  were 
actually  established. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  many  instances  of  reprehensible  conduct, 
the  nuns  as  a  class  did  not  break  the  vows  that  bound 
them  to  chastity,  and  within  the  convent  walls  were  found 
many  examples  of  women  of  illustrious  character.  In  the 
Anglo-Saxon  times,  women  of  the  most  admirable  traits 
are  found  in  charge  of  convents;  the  names  of  some  of  the 
abbesses  of  the  seventh  century,  and  earlier,  are  notable 
as  those  of  women  of  high  rank  as  well  as  of  high  char¬ 
acter.  Saint  Werburga  of  Ely,  the  daughter  of  Wulfere, 
King  of  Mercia,  was  made  ruler  over  all  the  female  reli¬ 
gious  houses,  and  became  the  founder  of  several  convents 
of  note.  Her  qualities  and  character  were  set  forth  in  the 
following  lines: 

“  In  beaute  amyable  she  was  equall  to  Rachell, 

Comparable  to  Sara  in  fyrme  fidelyte, 

In  sadness  and  wysedom  lyke  to  Abygaell : 

Replete  as  Dei  bora  with  grace  of  prophecy, 
vEqyvalent  to  Ruth  she  was  in  humylyte, 

In  purchrytude  Rebecca,  lyke  Hester  in  Colynesse, 

Lyke  Judyth  in  vertue  and  proued  holynesse.” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 


157 


But  such  examples  of  high  worth  among  the  abbesses, 
while  not  exceptional  in  the  early  Middle  Ages,  are  not 
frequently  met  with  in  the  closing  centuries  of  the  period. 

The  position  of  the  abbess  was  not  one  of  honor  only, 
but  of  privilege;  the  cloister  rule  was  relaxed  for  her — she 
might  go  and  come  as  she  pleased,  and  see  anyone  whom 
she  wished  to  see.  In  the  early  times,  she  is  even  found 
taking  part  in  synods.  Thus,  in  649,  the  abbesses  were 
summoned  to  the  council  at  Becanceld,  in  Kent,  and  the 
names  of  five  of  them  were  subscribed  to  the  constitutions 
which  were  there  made,  while  the  name  of  not  a  single 
abbot  appears  on  the  document.  Coming  down  to  much 
later  times,  abbesses  were  summoned  to  attend  or  to  send 
proxies  to  the  king’s  council  which  was  held  to  grant  “an 
aid  on  the  knighting  the  Prince  of  Wales.”  Also,  they 
were  required  to  furnish  military  service  by  proxy.  While 
they  were  more  amenable  to  the  clergy  than  were  the 
monks,  the  abbesses  were  nevertheless  tenacious  of  their 
privileges.  They  were  never  ordained,  nor  did  they  ever 
have  the  right  to  ordain  others,  although  they  claimed  the 
latter  as  one  of  their  privileges. 

They  were  subject  to  deposition  if  they  abused  their 
office.  Not  infrequently  the  nuns  would  carry  their  com¬ 
plaints  to  the  bishop,  and  seek  from  him  redress  for  their 
grievances.  If  the  circumstances  warranted  his  so  doing, 
the  bishop  would  occasionally  take  the  direction  of  the 
nunnery  into  his  own  hands  instead  of  appointing  an 
abbess,  or  else  he  might  place  it  temporarily  in  the  charge 
of  one  or  more  of  the  nuns.  All  the  affairs  of  the  convent 
were  directed  by  the  abbess — the  tillage  of  the  grounds 
and  the  repairs  to  the  buildings,  as  well  as  the  internal 
ordering  of  the  establishment  and  the  discipline  of  its 
inmates.  Also,  she  was  directed  to  assist,  by  her  own 
labor  as  far  as  she  was  able,  in  clothing  herself.  When  a 


i58 


WOMAN 


nun  became  refractory,  she  might  be  consigned  to  punish¬ 
ment  outside  of  the  convent.  Thus,  by  the  decree  of  a 
council  near  Paris  in  the  eighth  century,  it  was  ordered 
that  the  bishop  as  well  as  the  abbess  might  send  a  nun 
to  a  penitentiary.  The  same  council  prescribed  that  an 
abbess  should  not  superintend  more  than  one  monastery 
or  quit  its  precincts  more  than  once  a  year.  One  of  the 
rules  which  was  at  one  time  in  force  prohibited  abbesses 
from  walking  alone,  thus  placing  them  under  the  surveil¬ 
lance  of  the  sisterhood.  But  their  powers  varied  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  period  and  the  order  with  which  they  were 
connected. 

Through  the  necessities  of  their  office,  the  abbesses 
were  brought  into  closer  relationship  with  the  outside 
world  than  were  the  other  nuns.  Sometimes  they  were 
made  respondents  in  a  suit  at  law  with  regard  to  the 
estates  of  the  convent,  or  to  retain  the  property  brought 
to  them  by  some  one  of  the  sisters,  who,  renouncing  her 
vows,  sought  to  recover  her  possessions.  In  1292  the 
prioress  of  an  abbey  in  Somersetshire  had  to  answer  in  a 
suit  brought  against  her  by  a  widow  and  two  men  in 
regard  to  the  right  of  common  pasturage  upon  lands  held 
by  the  convent,  and  the  case  was  decided  against  the  reli¬ 
gious  house;  but  both  the  prioress  and  the  widow  escaped 
paying  their  respective  costs  in  the  case,  on  the  plea  of 
poverty. 

Not  only  were  the  abbesses  sued,  but  they  themselves 
did  not  hesitate  to  institute  legal  proceedings  in  defence 
of  what  they  believed  were  their  rights.  In  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.,  a  prioress  sued  a  sheriff  for  the  recovery  of  a 
pension  granted  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  which  had 
been  allowed  to  lapse.  The  case  was  carried  to  the  king’s 
court  and  won  for  the  convent.  Legal  difficulties  fre¬ 
quently  occurred  over  grants  made  to  convents  without 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 


159 


the  observance  of  the  set  formalities.  An  abbess  had  a 
great  many  secular  duties,  for  all  the  money  that  came 
into  the  establishment,  or  was  paid  out,  had  to  be  ac¬ 
counted  for  by  her.  The  entertainment  which  the  con¬ 
vent  dispensed  to  those  who,  on  one  pretext  or  another, 
claimed  it,  furnished  another  occasion  for  the  intercourse 
of  the  abbess  with  the  outer  world.  Sometimes  ladies 
who  were  temporarily  in  want  of  a  home  repaired  to  a 
convent  and  were  there  received.  The  bishops  frequently 
sent  friends  to  the  priory  for  entertainment;  though  such 
persons  were  charges  upon  the  hospitality  of  the  institu¬ 
tion,  they,  as  a  rule,  either  paid  for  their  entertainment 
themselves  or  were  provided  for  by  their  friends.  It  was 
not  unusual  for  visitors  who  came  under  the  authority  of 
the  bishop’s  order  to  bring  with  them  a  retinue  of  servants 
and  to  remain  a  considerable  time. 

During  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  rigid  inquiries  were 
made  with  regard  to  the  regulations  and  the  character  of 
the  inmates  of  the  monasteries,  especially  the  abbots  and 
abbesses.  The  investigations  with  regard  to  the  character 
of  the  abbots  and  abbesses  need  not  concern  us,  as  we  have 
sufficiently  noticed  the  looseness  of  conduct  which  prevailed 
in  many  of  the  religious  houses.  Among  the  questions  asked 
were  inquiries  as  to  whether  hospitality  was  maintained, 
and  especially  toward  the  poor,  whether  Church  anniver¬ 
saries  were  observed,  whether  proper  records  were  kept, 
whether  any  of  the  conventual  property  had  been  alien¬ 
ated,  whether  the  head  of  the  house  was  given  to  sober 
and  modest  conversation  both  toward  the  inmates  and  lay 
persons,  whether  any  of  the  inmates  had  been  punished, 
whether  there  had  been  any  overlooking  of  the  faults  of  a 
brother  or  sister  through  favoritism,  whether  any  novices 
were  received  before  reaching  sufficient  age  because  of 
friendship  and  affection  or  the  inducement  of  money  or 


i6o 


WOMAN 


any  other  ulterior  reason.  Besides  these  inquiries,  which 
were  common  to  the  abbots  and  abbesses,  particular  ques¬ 
tions  were  asked  the  latter,  looking  to  the  abandonment  of 
all  ornaments  and  superfluities  of  dress  and  the  keeping  in 
good  repair  of  all  the  accessories  of  divine  service.  They 
were  asked  whether  the  sisters  attended  divine  worship  at 
the  proper  seasons,  whether  they  taught  the  novices  the 
rule,  whether  they  maintained  proper  oversight  of  them, 
and  whether  they  saw  that  they  were  engaged  at  proper 
work.  Also,  the  abbess  was  to  report  on  the  character  of 
the  nuns  as  to  whether  she  suspected  any  of  incontinence, 
whether  any  of  them  slept  without  the  convent  walls  or 
walked  abroad,  and,  if  so,  in  whose  company.  She  was 
asked  whether  the  confessor  or  chaplain  did  his  duty,  and 
whether  she  had  found  any  “ancient,  sad,  and  virtuous” 
woman  as  mistress  of  the  novices. 

Among  the  Gilbertine  nuns,  whom  we  may  mention  as 
a  typical  order,  there  were  three  prioresses,  one  of  whom 
presided,  the  other  two  acting  as  coadjutors.  It  was  the 
duty  of  the  presiding  prioress  to  enjoin  penance,  grant  all 
the  licenses  or  allowances,  visit  the  sick,  or  see  that  they 
were  visited  by  one  of  her  companions.  The  prioresses 
cut,  fitted,  and  superintended  the  manufacture  of  the 
vestments  of  the  sisters.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  pre¬ 
siding  prioress  to  visit  the  sisters  in  the  infirmary  when¬ 
ever  they  asked  for  her  presence,  unless  she  were 
detained  by  urgent  duties.  Other  rules  regulated  her 
conduct  on  festival  days,  when  she  was  especially  to  use 
diligence  in  inquiring  after  the  order  and  religion  of  the 
house. 

The  sub-prioress  was  under  more  rigid  rules  than  those 
which  governed  her  superior;  if,  in  the  absence  of  the 
prioress,  she  spoke  of  anything  excepting  labor,  she  con¬ 
fessed  having  done  so,  in  the  chapter.  If,  in  the  absence 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES  l6l 

of  the  prioress,  some  other  of  the  sisters  failed  to  observe 
silence,  it  was  not  she  but  the  sub-prioress  who  was  held 
responsible  and  took  the  blame.  She  could  not  go  to  the 
window  of  the  gate  without  a  “sage  companion. ” 

When  the  cellaress  assumed  office,  her  duties  were  to 
see  what  was  owing  to  the  different  farmers  and  tax  gath¬ 
erers,  to  receive  the  sums  due  from  the  collectors  on  the 
nunnery  estates,  and  to  take  account  of  all  the  sales  of 
the  products  of  the  lands  of  the  convent.  Also,  she  was 
to  see  to  the  provisioning  of  the  house,  to  pay  the  wages, 
and  to  attend  to  the  mowing  of  the  hay  and  to  the  repairs  to 
the  buildings.  She  might  have  associated  with  her  a  lay 
sister,  with  whom  she  was  at  liberty  to  talk  concerning 
the  business  affairs  of  their  office. 

Of  the  other  convent  officials,  the  precentrix  had  charge 
of  the  library;  the  sacrist  rose  at  night  to  ring  the  bell, 
attended  to  the  adornment  of  the  church  in  the  vigil  of 
Easter,  lighted  the  lamp  in  the  interval  at  lessons,  had  the 
preparation  of  the  coals  for  the  censer,  and  performed 
other  duties  of  a  like  nature;  and  the  duty  of  the  mistress 
of  the  novices  was  to  see  that  those  in  her  charge  behaved 
in  an  orderly  manner.  She  was  the  disciplinarian  of  those 
who  had  not  taken  the  full  vows  of  the  order.  If  the 
infirmaress  desired  anything,  she  had  to  indicate  it  by  a 
sign;  when  the  want  was  of  such  a  nature  that  it  could 
not  be  so  indicated,  the  cellaress  was  summoned,  for  this 
was  the  only  official  in  whose  presence  the  infirmaress 
could  speak.  She  never  served  in  the  kitchen  when  there 
were  any  serious  cases  of  sickness  to  need  her  attention. 
There  were  other  officials  who  performed  special  or  occa¬ 
sional  duties,  who  need  not  be  mentioned.  All  the  servants 
in  a  convent  took  an  oath  of  fidelity  not  to  reveal  the  secrets 
of  the  house.  They  were  brewers,  bakers,  kitcheners, 
gardeners,  shoemakers,  and  the  like. 


WOMAN 


162 

The  confessor  made  periodical  visits  to  the  convent;  and 
if  the  prioress  found  it  necessary  that  anyone  should  con¬ 
fess,  the  latter  was  told  to  go  to  the  place  appointed,  and 
two  “discreet  sisters”  sat  apart  from  the  window  of  the 
confessional,  where  they  could  hold  the  nun  under  obser¬ 
vation  and  see  how  she  behaved.  The  confessor  also  was 
under  supervision  as  to  his  conduct,  for  he  was  to  “shun 
talking  vain  and  unnecessary  things;  nor  ask  who  she 
was,  whence  she  came,  and  such  things.” 

The  ceremony  with  regard  to  the  taking  of  vows  by  the 
nuns  was  threefold.  The  first  was  called  the  consecration 
of  the  nun,  and  was  made  on  solemn  days,  preferably 
Epiphany  or  on  the  festivals  of  the  Virgin.  After  the 
Epistle  was  read,  the  virgin  who  was  to  be  consecrated 
came  before  the  altar,  dressed  in  white,  carrying  in  her 
right  hand  the  religious  habit  and  in  her  left  an  extin¬ 
guished  taper.  After  the  bishop  had  consecrated  the  habit, 
he  gave  it  to  her,  saying:  “  Take,  girl,  the  robe  which  you 
shall  wear  in  innocence.”  After  assuming  this,  the  taper 
in  her  hand  was  lighted,  and  she  intoned  the  words: 
“I  love  Christ,  into  whose  bed  I  have  entered.”  Then, 
after  the  Epistle,  Gospel,  and  Creed,  the  bishop  said: 
“Come,  come,  come,  daughter,  I  will  teach  you  the  fear 
of  the  Lord.”  The  nun  then  prostrated  herself  before  the 
altar,  and  after  the  Veni  Creator  began,  she  arose.  The 
bishop  then  invested  her  with  the  veil  and  pronounced 
a  curse  against  all  those  who  would  disturb  her  holy 
purpose.  The  second  ceremony  related  to  a  nun  who 
was  to  make  profession,  but  who  had  before  been  blessed, 
and  the  third  ceremony  related  to  the  consecration  of  a 
nun  who  was  not  a  virgin.  Such,  in  brief,  is  a  sketch 
of  the  convent  routine  and  exercises.  It  will  now  be 
-  in  place  to  take  a  more  general  view  of  the  nun’s 
environment. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 


163 


As  the  hospitality  of  the  convent  was  often  extended  to 
strangers,  it  will  not  be  without  interest  to  give  a  list  of 
the  contents  of  a  chamber  which  was  allotted  to  a  “  Dame 
Agnes  Browne”  in  the  Priory  of  Minster,  in  Sheppey: 
“Stuff  given  her  by  her  friends: — A  fetherbed,  a  bolster, 
2  pyllows,  a  payre  of  blankatts,  2  corse  coverleds,  4  pare 
of  shets  good  and  badde,  an  olde  tester  and  selar  of 
paynted  clothes  and  2  peces  of  hangyng  to  the  same;  a 
square  cofer  carvyd,  with  2  bed  clothes  upon  the  cofer, 
and  in  the  wyndow  a  lytill  cobard  of  waynscott  carvyd 
and  2  lytill  chestes;  a  small  goblet  with  a  cover  of  sylver 
parcell  gy It,  a  lytill  maser  with  a  brynne  of  sylver  and 
gylt,  a  lytill  pese  of  sylver  and  a  spore  of  sylver,  2  lytyll 
latyn  candellstyks,  a  fire  panne  and  a  pare  of  tonges,  2 
small  aundyrons,  4  pewter  dysshes,  a  porrenger,  a  pewter 
bason,  2  skyllotts  (a  small  pot  with  a  long  handle),  a  lytill 
brasse  pot,  a  cawdyron  and  a  drynkyng  pot  of  pewter.” 

That,  in  the  mind  of  the  religious  recluse,  cleanliness 
was  not  associated  with  godliness  was  due  to  the  idea  of 
penance.  Washing  was  regarded  as  a  luxury  not  to  be 
indulged  in  excepting  at  infrequent  intervals  or  by  special 
permission.  This  idea  of  ablutions  was  probably  derived 
at  first  in  reaction  from  the  public  baths  which  were  so 
much  in  vogue  among  the  Romans,  and  which  were  asso¬ 
ciated  in  the  public  mind  with  luxury,  and  were  often  the 
scenes  of  conduct  quite  at  variance  with  the  principles  for 
which  the  nuns  stood.  The  licentiousness  which  centred 
around  these  places  brought  them  into  such  ill  repute  that 
to  the  ascetic  mind  washing  did  not  so  much  signify  clean¬ 
liness  as  sin.  The  virtue  of  dirt  did  not  extend  to  the 
abbesses,  who  were  allowed  to  wash  whenever  it  was 
necessary  and  as  frequently  as  they  pleased.  By  a  simi¬ 
lar  process  of  deduction,  the  nuns  remained  untonsured. 
In  the  early  times,  a  woman  whose  hair  was  cut  short 


164 


WOMAN 


was  looked  upon  as  a  disreputable  character,  so  that  it 
was  repellent  to  conventional  ideas  of  propriety  to  conform 
to  the  practice  of  the  monks  in  having  the  head  shaved. 

The  nuns  were  not  always  of  the  most  serious  disposi¬ 
tion  and  deportment,  as  is  shown  by  the  peculiar  enjoin- 
ment  that  they  were  not  to  look  fixedly  on  any  man,  or  to 
romp  or  frolic  with  him;  neither  were  they  to  allow  any 
man  to  see  them  unveiled,  nor  to  embrace  any  man,  either 
an  acquaintance  or  a  stranger.  The  convivial  nature  of 
some  of  the  nuns  is  revealed  by  an  order  commanding 
them  not  to  “use  the  alehouse  or  the  watercourses 
where  strangers  daily  resort,  or  bring  in,  receive,  or 
take  any  layman,  religious  or  secular,  into  the  chamber, 
or  any  secret  place,  day  or  night,  or  with  them  in  such 
private  places  to  commune,  eat,  or  drink,  without  license 
of  your  prioress. ”  The  monastery  which  is  described  by 
Wriothesley  as  the  most  virtuous  religious  house  in  Eng¬ 
land,  Sion  Monastery,  was  under  an  even  stricter  rule. 
Conversation  with  secular  persons  was  permitted  only  by 
the  license  of  the  abbess  from  noon  to  vespers,  and  only 
then  on  Sundays  and  the  great  feast  days  of  the  saints. 
Sion  Monastery  was  subjected  to  the  further  restriction 
that  the  nuns  might  not  receive  their  friends,  but  could 
converse  with  them  by  sitting  at  appointed  windows,  in 
the  presence  of  the  abbess.  If  any  sister  desired  to  be 
seen  by  “her  parents  or  honest  friends,”  she  might,  by 
the  special  permission  of  the  abbess,  open  the  window 
occasionally  during  the  year;  but  if  she  had  the  self-denial 
to  forego  this  privilege,  a  greater  reward  was  assured  her 
in  the  hereafter. 

Despite  the  criticism  to  which  the  monastic  system  of 
the  Middle  Ages  may  justly  be  subjected,  it  would  be 
_  great  remissness  to  fail  in  appreciation  of  the  tremendous 
work  of  civilization  which  was  performed  by  its  expositors. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES  165 

They  were  the  centres  of  culture,  as  well  as  of  benevo¬ 
lence;  in  the  convents,  and  also  in  the  monasteries, 
there  could  always  be  found  a  select  library,  which  in¬ 
cluded  works  of  the  classic  authors,  as  well  as  books  of 
religion.  The  nuns,  as  a  class,  were  well  educated  for 
their  time.  They  could  read  Latin,  and  were  qualified  to 
direct  the  education  of  the  novices  who  came  under  their 
training.  Even  in  the  ninth  century,  some  of  the  conti¬ 
nental  convents  had  such  high  repute  as  educational 
centres  that  children  were  sent  long  distances  to  get  the 
benefit  of  the  opportunities  they  offered;  and  in  this  re¬ 
spect  England  was  no  whit  behind,  for  children  were  sent 
from  the  continent  to  be  educated  in  the  schools  estab¬ 
lished  by  Theodorus  and  Hadrian.  This  fact  is  the  more 
to  the  credit  of  the  English  schools,  as  the  tide  had  been 
setting  strongly  in  the  other  direction. 

The  addition  of  literary  and  pedagogic  duties  to  the  reli¬ 
gious  routine  and  manual  labor  of  the  convents  made  the 
lives  of  the  nuns  extremely  busy,  for,  in  addition  to  their 
reading  theological  and  classical  literature,  they  had  the 
duty  of  copying  and  embellishing  manuscripts.  It  was 
not  unusual  for  a  nun  to  become  proficient  in  Latin  versi¬ 
fication  and  to  correspond  in  that  language  with  others 
of  a  similar  literary  taste  and  training.  These  women 
were  thus  often  highly  qualified  to  teach  the  subjects 
which  were  then  included  in  polite  education.  For  many 
centuries  theirs  were  the  only  schools  for  girls.  The 
suppression  of  the  convents  was,  educationally,  a  disaster 
to  England.  They  were  not  merely  schools  for  book  learn¬ 
ing,  but  such  little  knowledge  as  was  current  in  regard  to 
the  treatment  of  various  disorders  and  the  care  of  the  sick 
was  obtained  in  the  convent  schools.  The  general  custom 
of  bleeding  people  for  every  form  of  illness,  as  well  as  to 
prevent  possible  sickness,  made  necessary  some  kind  of 


WOMAN 


1 66 

bandage  ready  prepared  to  apply  to  the  wound,  and  it  was 
a  common  practice  for  nuns  to  make  such  bandages  and  to 
present  them  as  gifts  to  friends.  The  convent  pupils  were 
also  taught  the  finer  sorts  of  cooking,  such  as  the  prepara¬ 
tion  of  special  dishes  and  the  making  of  sweetmeats  and 
pastry.  Needlework,  as  the  most  characteristic  employ¬ 
ment  of  women  of  refinement,  music,  both  vocal  and 
instrumental,  and  writing  and  drawing,  entered  into  the 
curricula  of  the  convents. 

The  educational  record  of  the  various  convents  at  the 
time  of  their  suppression  shows  that  this  act  of  Henry  VIII., 
whatever  other  justification  it  may  have  had,  cannot  be 
supported  on  the  ground  that  the  convents  were  not  per¬ 
forming  a  useful  service  to  society  in  the  education  of  the 
youth  of  the  country.  Gasquet,  in  his  Suppression  of  the 
Monasteries,  says:  “In  the  convents,  the  female  portion 
of  the  population  found  their  only  teachers,  the  rich  as 
well  as  the  poor,  and  the  destruction  of  the  religious 
houses  by  Henry  was  the  absolute  extinction  of  any  sys¬ 
tematic  education  for  women  during  a  long  period. ”  Thus, 
at  Winchester  Convent  the  list  of  ladies  being  educated 
within  the  walls  at  the  time  of  the  suppression  shows  that 
these  Benedictine  nuns  were  training  the  children  of  the 
first  families  in  the  country.  Carrow,  in  Norfolk,  for 
centuries  gave  instruction  to  the  daughters  of  the  neigh¬ 
boring  gentry;  and  as  early  as  A.  D.  *273  a  papal  prohibi¬ 
tion  was  obtained  from  Pope  Gregory  X.,  restraining  the 
nobility  from  crowding  this  monastery  with  more  sisters 
than  its  income  would  support.  Again,  we  read  of  Mynchin 
Buckland  that  it  was  a  noted  seminary  for  the  daughters 
of  the  families  in  its  vicinity.  Many  families  whose  names 
were  the  highest  in  the  list  of  the  English  gentry  of  the 
day  owed  to  the  convent  systems  all  the  accomplishments 
which  enabled  them  to  shine  brilliantly  in  their  after  life. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES  167 

“  Reading,  writing,  some  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  the  art 
of  embroidery,  music  and  French,  ‘  after  the  scole  of  Strat¬ 
ford  atte  Bowe,’  were  the  recognized  course  of  study, 
while  the  preparation  of  perfumes,  balsams,  simples,  and 
confectionery  was  among  the  more  ordinary  depart¬ 
ments  of  the  education  afforded. ”  There  was  as  great 
protest  aroused  among  the  laity  against  the  suppression 
of  the  convents  as  has  been  latterly  witnessed  in  France 
against  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  law  as  to  unregis¬ 
tered  schools,  resulting  in  the  closing  of  many  schools 
which  were  established  on  a  religious  foundation  and 
taught  by  the  nuns. 

Many  pathetic  pleas  were  addressed  to  Thomas  Crom¬ 
well  in  behalf  of  the.  convents  at  the  time  of  the  Reforma¬ 
tion.  The  abbess  of  the  famous  convent  of  Godstow,  in 
Oxfordshire,  wrote  to  Cromwell  as  follows:  “Pleaseth  hit 
your  Honour  with  my  moste  humble  dowyte,  to  be  adver^ 
tised,  that  where  it  hath  pleasyd  your  Lordship  to  be  the 
verie  meanes  to  the  King’s  Majestie  for  my  preferment, 
most  unworthie  to  be  Abbes  of  this  the  King’s  Monasterie 
of  Godstowe.  ...  I  trust  to  God  that  I  have  never 
offendyd  God’s  laws,  neither  the  King’s,  wherebie  this 
poore  monasterie  ought  to  be  suppressed.”  She  then 
continues  in  an  earnest  strain  to  set  forth  that  the  recom¬ 
mendation  for  the  suppression  of  her  convent  arose  from 
private  malice  on  the  part  of  her  enemies,  and  closes  with 
a  denial  of  the  charges  preferred,  as  follows:  “And  not¬ 
withstanding  that  Dr.  London,  like  an  untrew  man,  hath 
informed  your  Lordship  that  I  am  a  spoiler  and  a  waster, 
your  good  Lordship  shall  know  that  the  contrary  is  trew; 
for  I  have  '  not  alienated  one  halporthe  ’  of  goods  of  this 
monastery,  movable  or  unmovable,  but  have  rather  in- 
cres’d  the  same,  nor  never  made  lease  of  any  farme  or 
peece  of  grounde  belonging  to  this  House,  or  thet  hath 


WOMAN 


1 68 

been  in  times  paste,  alwaies  set  under  Convent  Seal  for 
the  wealthe  of  the  House. ” 

The  convents  were  charitable  as  well  as  educational 
centres,  although  their  benevolent  methods  would  not 
meet  the  approval  of  modern  ideas  as  to  wise  almsgiving. 
At  the  set  time  for  the  disbursement  of  alms,  the  mendi¬ 
cants  thronged  the  institution,  and,  by  the  liberality  of  the 
donors,  were  encouraged  to  continue  in  a  life  of  shiftless¬ 
ness  and  beggary.  The  disbursement  of  alms  was  really 
regarded  by  the  recipients  not  so  much  as  an  act  of  char¬ 
ity  as  something  which  they  had  a  right  to  expect. 

One  of  the  best  phases  of  conventual  charity  was  its  in¬ 
fluence  in  developing  the  benevolent  tendencies  of  women 
of  position  and  means.  The  feudal  system,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  largely  a  system  of  dependent  relations,  so  that 
those  who  were  in  the  lowest  social  scale  felt  that  they 
had  a  right  to  the  gifts  of  those  who  were  above  them. 
By  the  inevitable  working  of  the  system,  the  lives  of  the 
poor  were  interwoven  into  the  lives  of  their  betters.  It 
was  a  gracious  work  of  the  Church  to  teach  those  who 
were  in  the  fortunate  places  of  life  their  responsibility 
toward  their  less  happily  situated  fellow  creatures,  and 
the  monastic  almsgiving  was  a  practical  exemplification  of 
the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  in  so  far  as  the  customs  and  prac¬ 
tices  of  the  times  made  possible  a  clear  interpretation  of 
its  benevolent  teachings.  Although  charity  was  not  organ¬ 
ized,  and  was  dealt  directly  to  the  needy  without  investi¬ 
gation  of  their  claims  on  any  other  ground  than  actual  and 
manifest  want,  and  thus  was  in  violation  of  modern  social 
tenets  and  methods,  it  yet  furnishes  one  of  the  most  en¬ 
gaging  chapters  of  mediaeval  life.  Modern  benevolences, 
however  different  from  those  of  earlier  times,  neverthe¬ 
less  derive  their  spirit  and  inspiration  from  the  gracious 
charities  of  the  mediaeval  nuns. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES  169 

Under  the  incentive  of  the  example  of  the  monasteries, 
the  great  ladies  recognized  and  frequently  performed  their 
full  duty  toward  their  dependants.  The  Countess  of  Rich¬ 
mond  maintained  a  number  of  poor  people  within  her  own 
walls.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  Lady  Gresham  left,  by 
her  will,  tenements  in  the  city,  the  rents  of  which  were  to 
be  used  for  the  poor.  The  Countess  of  Pembroke  built 
an  almshouse  and  procured  for  it  a  patent  of  corporation. 
These  are  but  a  few  of  many  illustrious  examples  of  large 
charities  which  serve  to  brighten  the  pages  of  mediaeval 
history. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  charity  was  a  personal  obligation. 
With  the  elimination  of  personal  service,  charity  came 
increasingly  to  be  dispensed  by  voluntary  associations. 
Of  such  organizations  may  be  instanced  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  and,  in  recent  years,  the  various  orders  of  deacon¬ 
esses.  For  although  charity  has  gone  outside  the  bounds 
of  the  Church,  its  ministrations  are  directly  traceable  to 
the  convents,  and  it  yet  finds  its  most  appropriate  relations 
and  allies  to  be  religion  and  the  Church. 


■ 


", 


; ■>} 

.. 

,  *■  v 

3  1  .  ■  •  vl  - 


'  • 


' 


.  ^  K  < 


•.  .  • 

. 


. 


*■ 

■ 

- 

' 


(Chapter  UIH 

®he  02Eomm  of  the  {nimstrial  (Classes 


VIII 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES 

THE  most  remarkable  fact  of  the  twelfth  century  in 
England  was  the  growth  of  the.  towns.  As  has  been 
already  observed  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  conquest  of 
Britain  by  the  Normans  modified  the  insularity  of  the 
people  and  brought  them  into  closer  communication  with 
the  people  of  the  continent.  One  of  the  most  marked 
effects  of  this  change  was  the  introduction  into  the  country 
of  skilled  Norman  craftsmen.  The  stimulating  effect  of 
the  influx  of  these  specialized  workmen  was  in  result  not 
unlike  the  general  awakening  of  trade  and  commerce 
throughout  Europe,  at  a  later  time,  as  the  result  of  the 
Crusades. 

The  expansion  of  England’s  industry  was  also  favored 
by  the  vigorous  administrations  of  Henry  I.  and  Henry  II. 
Another  contributive  factor  was  the  decline  in  power  of 
the  barons.  Henry  I.  pitted  the  town  against  the  castle 
in  order  to  counterbalance  the  vast  influence  which  was 
exerted  by  each.  Henry’s  policy  of  limiting  the  inde¬ 
pendence  of  the  barons  was  furthered  by  the  introduction 
of  scutage,  by  which  the  king  was  enabled  to  call  to  his 
aid  mercenary  troops  and  did  not  have  to  rely  wholly  upon 
the  feudal  forces.  Then,  too,  the  Assize  of  Arms  restored 
the  national  militia  to  its  former  importance.  Such,  in 
brief,  were  the  constitutional  measures  by  which  the  towns 

1 73 


174 


WOMAN 


were  advantaged  and  their  position  as  related  to  the  castles 
in  a  sense  reversed.  The  liberty  of  the,  latter  became 
increasingly  curtailed,  while  that  of  the  former  was  corre¬ 
spondingly  augmented. 

The  town  and  the  castle,  however,  were  not  antago¬ 
nistic,  the  interests  of  the  former  being  furthered  by  the 
protection  of  the  latter.  The  monastery,  also,  aided  the 
town  by  attracting  trade.  There  was  little  difference  in 
conditions  of  life  between  the  town  and  the  country;  both 
engaged  in  agriculture  as  well  as  in  trade,  and  both  were 
governed  by  a  royal  officer,  or,  it  might  be,  by  some  lord’s 
steward,  while,  of  course,  the  houses  were  somewhat 
more  clustered  in  the  town  than  in  the  country,  and  the 
town  possessed  the  merchant  guild.  It  is  impossible  to 
trace  guilds  to  their  origin,  although  Brentano  seeks  to  fix 
England  as  their  birthplace.  This  is  possible,  however, 
only  by  narrowing  the  definition  of  a  guild  to  fit  the  Eng¬ 
lish  type. 

The  earliest  unmistakable  mention  of  the  merchant  guild 
is  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  or  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century.  Under  Henry  I.,  grants  of  merchant  guilds  ap¬ 
pear  in  royal  town  charters,  and  are  frequently  met  with 
during  succeeding  reigns.  By  such  charters  the  original 
voluntary  associations  became  exclusive  bodies,  to  which 
trade  was  confined.  The  retail  trade  of  the  town  was  re¬ 
stricted  to  members  of  the  guild  individually,  while  the 
trade  coming  to  the  town  was  shared  by  them  all  collect¬ 
ively.  The  burgesses  generally  found  it  to  their  interest 
to  become  members  of  the  guild,  and  all  townsmen  of 
importance  were  traders.  Ecclesiastics  and  women  might 
also  be  members  of  the  guild,  but  they  were,  of  course, 
debarred  from  becoming  burgesses. 

The  exclusive  tendencies  which  the  merchant  guild  de¬ 
veloped  made  it  really  an  oligarchy,  and  so  there  grew  up 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  175 


in  the  towns  an  ever  increasing  population  that  did  not 
share  the  guild  privileges.  As  the  town  and  its  trade 
developed,  the  complexity  of  trade  regulations  made  it  a 
convenience  to  have  guilds  with  specialized  functions,  to 
which  the  merchant  guild  might  deputize  its  powers.  It 
was  quite  natural,  too,  that  men  working  at  the  same 
trade,  and  having  social  and  neighborhood  association, 
should  desire  to  have  a  guild  which  would  represent  their 
distinctive  interests.  Thus  the  craft  guild  arose,  not  in 
antagonism  to  the  merchant  guild,  but  as  a  special  agent 
of  it.  So,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  there  came  about  the 
associations  of  the  weavers,  cordwainers,  and  fullers.  By 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  craft  guilds  were  numer¬ 
ous,  and  in  some  places  the  merchant  guild  was  superseded 
by  them.  In  their  composition  the  guilds  were  made  up 
of  masters,  journeymen,  and  apprentices,  from  whom  were 
elected  the  officers  and  assistances.  Women  were  mem¬ 
bers  of  these  craft  guilds,  although  they  do  not  appear  to 
have  taken  part  in  the  business  administration.  “The 
charter  of  the  Drapers  speaks  of  both  brethren  and  sis- 
tren,  and  the  list  of  members  as  given  on  the  occasions  of 
*  cessments  1  shows  women-members,  both  wives  of  corn- 
brethren,  independent  tradeswomen,  and  widows  of  de¬ 
ceased  brothers.” 

The  relation  of  the  women  to  some  of  the  guilds  seems 
to  have  been  largely  a  social  one.  Thus,  we  read  in  the 
rules  of  the  Calendar  Guild,  a  religious  fraternity,  that  the 
wives  of  guild  members  had  gone  to  such  extremes  in 
their  entertainment  of  the  guild  as  to  cause  it  to  be  stipu¬ 
lated  that  no  woman  should  spend  in  excess  of  a  certain 
specified  sum  for  hospitality  toward  the  guilds;  for  these 
guilds  were  formed  for  various  purposes  besides  trade,  and 
were  in  the  nature  of  friendly  societies.  In  addition  to 
their  commercial  side,  they  were  “associations  for  mutual 


176 


WOMAN 


help  and  social  and  religious  intercourse  amongst  the 
people.”  The  proportion  of  women  in  the  membership 
was  always  large.  In  her  introduction  to  English  Guilds, 
Miss  Toulmin  Smith  says  that  “scarcely  five  out  of  five 
hundred  were  not  formed  equally  of  men  and  women.  .  .  . 
Even  where  the  affairs  were  managed  by  a  company  of 
priests,  women  were  admitted  as  lay  members,  and  they 
had  many  of  the  same  duties  and  claims  upon  the  guilds 
as  the  men.” 

Women’s  association  with  the  guild  was  not  a  merely 
nominal  one,  for  they  shared  in  all  of  its  privileges  and 
contributed  to  all  of  its  funds,  although  the  payments 
asked  of  them  were  sometimes  smaller.  The  female  as 
well  as  the  male  members  had  a  right  to  wear  the  livery 
of  the  guild.  Women  were  engaged  in  trade  and  even  in 
manufacture,  and  so  had  direct  interest  in  the  craft  guilds, 
aside  from  that  which  they  would  naturally  feel  through 
the  relations  thereto  of  their  husbands  and  brothers.  In 
the  work  of  his  trade  a  member  was  always  allowed  to 
employ  his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  maid,  for  the  whole 
household  of  the  guild  brother  belonged  to  the  guild.  In 
later  times  this  led  to  the  degeneration  of  the  guilds  into 
mere  family  monopolies. 

The  fraternal  feature  of  the  craft  guild  reminds  one  of 
the  same  features  of  the  benevolent  orders  of  the  present 
time.  If  a  member  of  the  guild,  male  or  female,  became 
impoverished  through  mishap,  they  were  cared  for,  and,  if 
need  arose,  were  buried;  dowerless  daughters  were  pro¬ 
vided  with  marriage  portions,  or,  in  case  they  wished  to 
enter  the  religious  life,  they  were  provided  with  the  means 
to  do  so.  Nor  must  we  overlook  the  large  influence  which 
the  guilds  exerted  on  the  side  of  morality,  attaching,  as 
-  they  did,  the  greatest  importance  to  the  moral  character 
of  their  members. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  1 77 

The  great  Drapers  Company  embraced  in  its  member¬ 
ship  many  women  who  trained  apprentices  and  carried  on 
business,  as  did  the  male  members.  The  rules  of  the 
company  provided  that  “every  brother  or  sister  of  the  fel¬ 
lowship  taking  an  apprentice  shall  present  him  to  the 
wardens,  and  shall  pay  13  j  4.”  The  craft  guilds  exerted 
an  admirable  influence  in  the  raising  of  woman  to  the  same 
plane  of  respect  as  that  held  by  men.  The  equality  which 
was  accorded  them  in  these  associations  amounted  to  a 
recognition  of  their  intellectual  and  business  capabilities 
as  being  of  the  same  order  as  those  of  the  men.  The 
respect  which  was  shown  them  is  illustrated  by  a  provi¬ 
sion  of  the  same  company  to  which  we  have  just  referred. 
It  was  ordered  that  when  a  “sister”  died  she  should  be 
interred  with  fullest  honors;  the  best  pall  was  to  be  thrown 
over  her  coffin,  and  the  fraternity  were  to  follow  her  to 
the  grave  “with  every  respectful  ceremony  equally  as  the 
men.”  On  the  death  of  a  male  member  of  a  guild,  his 
widow  was  privileged  to  carry  on  his  trade  as  one  of  the 
guild;  and  if  a  woman  married  a  man  of  the  same  trade 
who  did  not  have  the  freedom  of  the  guild,  he  acquired  it 
by  virtue  of  the  marriage;  but  should  a  woman  marry  a 
man  of  another  trade,  she  was  thereby  excluded  from  her 
guild  connection.  Such  were  the  relations  of  woman  to 
the  guilds.  But  Brentano  notes  an  exception  to  the  rule 
that  a  widow  who  married  again  a  man  of  the  same  trade 
conferred  the  freedom  of  the  guild  upon  him:  “The  wife 
of  a  poulterer  may  carry  on  the  said  mystery  after  the 
death  of  her  husband,  quite  as  freely  as  if  her  sire  were 
alive;  and  if  she  marries  a  man  not  of  the  mystery,  and 
wishes  to  carry  it  on,  she  must  buy  the  (right  of  carrying 
on  the)  mystery  in  the  above  described  manner;  as  she 
would  be  obliged  to  buy  the  mystery,  if  her  husband  was 
of  the  mystery  and  had  not  yet  bought  it;  for  the  husband 


1 78 


WOMAN 


is  not  in  the  dominion  of  the  wife,  but  the  wife  is  in  the 
dominion  of  the  husband. ” 

The  democratic  nature  of  the  guilds  tended  to  lessen 
class  distinctions  and  to  bring  about  a  true  fellowship  on 
the  plane  of  equality.  The  associations,  as  has  been 
said,  provided  for  their  members  with  loving  care,  and  fol¬ 
lowed  them  with  love  to  the  grave:  “the  ordinances  as 
to  this  last  act  breathed  the  same  spirit  of  equality  among 
her  sons  on  which  all  her  regulations  were  founded,  and 
which  constituted  her  strength.”  In  cases  of  insolvency 
at  death,  the  funerals  of  poor  members  were  to  be  re¬ 
spected  equally  with  those  of  the  rich.  “  The  honor  paid 
to  the  dead  was  also  associated  with  the  duty  of  benevo¬ 
lence;”  thus,  for  instance,  in  the  statutes  of  the  fullers  of 
Lincoln,  it  is  s^id:  “When  any  of  the  brethren  and  sistren 
die,  the  rest  shall  give  a  halfpenny  each  to  buy  bread  to 
be  given  to  the  poor,  for  the  soul's  sake  of  the  dead.” 
The  Grocers  Company  admitted  women  after  marriage  to 
membership  in  their  fraternity,  and  they  “enter  and  are 
looked  upon  as  of  the  fraternity  for  ever,  and  are  assisted 
and  made  as  one  of  us;  and  after  the  death  of  the  hus¬ 
band,  the  widow  shall  come  to  the  dinner  and  pay  4od.  if 
she  is  able.” 

In  the  fourteenth  century  it  was  by  no  means  unusual 
for  women,  even  though  they  were  married,  to  carry  on 
successfully  large  commercial  enterprises  in  their  own 
name  and  by  their  individual  effort.  In  the  Liber  Albus 
of  London,  which  was  compiled  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
there  occurs  an  ordinance  relating  to  this  subject:  “and 
where  a  woman  coverte  de  baron  follows  craft  within  the 
said  city  by  herself  apart,  with  which  the  husband  in  no 
way  intermeddles,  such  woman  shall  be  bound  as  a  single 
woman  as  to  all  that  concerns  her  said  craft.  And  if  the 
husband  and  wife  are  impleaded  in  such  case,  the  wife 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  179 

shall  plead  as  a  single  woman  in  the  Court  of  Record, 
and  shall  have  her  law  and  other  advantages  by  way  of 
plea  just  as  a  single  woman.  And  if  she  is  condemned, 
she  shall  be  committed  to  prison  until  she  shall  have  made 
satisfaction;  and  neither  the  husband  nor  his  goods  shall 
in  such  case  be  charged  or  interfered  with.”  It  will  be 
seen  from  this  that  women  were  accorded  wide  liberty  in 
the  conduct  of  business  and,  whether  married  or  single, 
preserved  their  independence  of  action  and  control  of  prop¬ 
erty.  The  right  that  woman  enjoyed  before  the  courts 
of  being  sued  and  of  suing  was,  however,  a  negative  one. 

The  distresses  to  which  women  were  subjected  by  the 
peculiar  form  of  liberty  which  they  enjoyed  is  illustrated 
by  the  following  quotation  from  an  enactment  in  the  Stat¬ 
ute  of  Laborers  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III:  “  Every  man 
and  woman  of  our  realm  of  England,  of  what  condition  he 
be,  free  or  bond,  able  of  body  and  within  the  age  of  three¬ 
score  years,  not  living  in  merchandise,  not  exercising  any 
craft  nor  having  of  his  own  whereof  he  may  live,  nor 
proper  land  about  whose  tillage  he  may  himself  occupy, 
and  serving  any  other,  if  he  be  in  convenient  service  (his 
estate  considered),  be  required  to  serve,  he  shall  be 
bounden  to  serve  him  which  so  shall  him  require.  .  .  . 
And  if  any  such  man  or  woman  being  so  required  to  serve 
will  not  the  same  do,  .  .  .  he  shall  be  committed  to 

the  next  gaol,  there  to  remain  under  strait  keeping,  till  he 
find  surety  to  serve  in  the  form  aforesaid.” 

All  of  the  oppressive  enactments  regulating  the  wages 
of  laborers  and  fixing  the  maximum  of  the  sum  that  they 
were  at  liberty  to  accept  affected  women  equally  with 
men.  An  enactment  of  Richard  II.  provided  “that  no 
artificer,  labourer,  servant,  nor  victualler,  man  or  woman, 
should  travel  out  of  the  hundred,  rape,  or  wapentake 
where  he  is  dwelling,  without  a  letter-patent  under  the 


i  So 


WOMAN 


King’s  seal,  stating  why  he  is  wandering,  and  that  the 
term  for  which  he  or  she  had  been  hired  has  been  com¬ 
pleted.”  Otherwise  the  offender  might  be  put  in  a  pair  of 
stocks,  which  was  to  be  provided  in  every  town. 

The  guild  system,  despite  its  attitude  toward  women, 
was  the  beginning  of  the  narrowing  of  her  industrial 
sphere.  Prior  to  the  importation  of  skilled  laborers  in 
textile  and  other  branches  of  industry,  such  activities  were 
identified  with  the  homes  of  the  people,  not  merely  in  that 
the  industry  itself  was  conducted  in  them,  but  that  the 
product  was  limited  to  the  needs  of  the  household,  the  de¬ 
mands  of  charity,  and  such  surplus  as  was  used  in  trade. 
The  guild  broadened  the  meaning  of  industry  to  meet  the 
demands  of  a  rising  commercial  system  whose  trade  routes 
became  clearly  established  and  extended  throughout  Eu¬ 
rope  and  into  the  East.  So  that,  while  the  industry  of 
the  women  artificers  became  limited  in  that  many  things 
which  had  largely  occupied  their  hands  became  the  settled 
occupations  of  men,  the  products  which  still  depended 
mainly  upon  their  industrial  activity  became  much  more 
widely  dispersed,  and  made  them  factors  in  the  developing 
industries  to  which  England  is  so  deeply  indebted  for  her 
trade  supremacy.  With  the  decline  of  guilds,  there  was 
a  return  on  a  very  large  scale  to  the  system  of  home 
industry,  when  every  farmstead  and  rural  cottage  became 
a  manufacturing  centre.  The  development  of  the  factory 
system  of  the  eighteenth  century,  upon  the  introduction 
of  improved  machinery  for  manufacture,  completely  re¬ 
moved  industry  from  the  home  and  created  the  modern 
factory  town. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  do  more  than  suggest  the  influ¬ 
ence  which  the  guilds  exerted  in  bringing  woman  into  the 
larger  stream  of  English  life  by  the  definition  of  her  legal 
status  which  her  industrial  consequence  and  activities 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  l8l 


made  necessary.  It  has  been  already  remarked  that  the 
statutes  of  the  times  made  her  personally  responsible  be¬ 
fore  the  law  as  an  industrial  factor.  In  this  way,  woman 
became  increasingly  regarded  as  a  social  integer  rather 
than  as  simply  a  domestic  incident.  This  was  a  distinct 
gain  in  the  end,  however  crude  the  conception  at  first. 
The  complex  questions  of  woman’s  social  status  are  still 
largely  centred  about  the  question  of  her  industrial  place. 
The  insistent  claim  of  the  sex  that  they  shall  be  regarded 
as  worthy  of  a  part  in  the  world’s  work  projects  into  the 
discussion  of  the  place  that  she  shall  occupy  many  other 
questions  concerning  matters  which  are  immediately  in¬ 
volved.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  of  the  issues 
which  arose  during  the  modern  period,  and  together  form 
the  specifications  of  the  platform  of  “woman’s  rights,” 
find  their  beginning  in  this  first  responsible  relation  of 
woman  to  the  industry  of  the  nation.  Society  is  estab¬ 
lished  upon  an  economic  basis,  and  so  the  problem  of  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  woman  in  a  public  way 
must  be  centred  about  industry.  It  will  not  do  to  criti¬ 
cise  the  crudeness  of  the  early  legislation  regarding 
woman  when  she  first  stepped  into  the  arena  of  asso¬ 
ciated  industry,  and  to  remain  oblivious  to  the  fact  that 
the  question  of  her  industrial  status  is  no  more  satisfacto¬ 
rily  determined  after  the  lapse  of  centuries.  It  is  true 
that  the  question  during  these  centuries  became  greatly 
involved  at  times,  as,  for  instance,  at  the  period  of  the 
great  industrial  revolution;  but,  with  all  the  aspects  which 
the  question  assumes  to-day  and  the  problems  which  are 
related  to  it,  the  crux  of  the  matter  is  the  same  as  it  was 
at  the  time  of  the  rise  of  the  guilds. 

The  guild  ordinances  took  the  view  of  woman  as  an 
industrial  unit,  without  regard  to  her  personal  relations. 
If  she  became  a  merchant  and  associated  herself  with  the 


WOMAN 


182 

guild,  she  was  under  the  same  laws  regarding  financial 
responsibility  as  was  any  other  member.  The  fact  that 
she  was  a  woman,  or  that  she  was  married  and  had 
children,  did  not  constitute  a  plea  in  her  behalf  for  differ¬ 
ent  treatment  from  that  accorded  a  guild  brother.  If  a 
woman-merchant  became  a  debtor,  she  had  to  answer  in 
court  as  any  other  merchant,  and  “an  accyon  of  dette  be 
mayntend  agenst  her,  to  be  conceyved  aftr  the  custom 
of  the  seid  lite,  w1  out  nemyng  her  husband  in  the  seid 
accyon.” 

The  legislation  of  the  period  generally  recognized  the 
equality  of  the  sexes  in  the  matter  of  labor.  An  ordinance 
of  Edward  IV.,  made  in  the  borough  of  Wells,  provided 
that  both  male  and  female  apprentices  to  burgesses  should 
themselves  become  burgesses  at  the  expiration  of  their 
term  of  service.  Similar  statutes  relating  to  apprentices 
in  London  likewise  made  no  distinction  between  boys  and 
girls.  The  problems  centring  about  woman’s  relation  to 
industry  not  having  arisen,  the  fact  of  her  employment 
presented  no  serious  difficulties.  When  the  proclamation 
of  1271,  relating  to  the  woollen  industry,  was  issued,  it 
permitted  “all  workers  of  woolen  cloths,  male  and  female, 
as  well  of  Flanders  as  of  other  lands,  to  come  to  England 
to  follow  their  craft.”  Indeed,  the  women  were  less  fettered 
than  the  men  in  their  industrial  avocations,  for,  while  by 
the  statute  of  1363  the  men  were  limited  to  the  pursuit  of 
one  craft,  women  were  left  free  in  the  matter. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  interesting  to  refer  to  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  the  silk  industry  as  a  typical  occupation  of 
woman.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  the  time  when  “the 
arts  of  spinning,  throwing,  and  weaving  of  silk  ”  were  first 
brought  into  England.  We  do  know,  however,  that,  when 
first  established,  they  were  pursued  by  a  company  of 
women  called  “silk  women.”  The  fabrics  of  their  skill 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  183 


were  in  the  many  forms  of  laces,  ribbons,  girdles,  and 
other  narrow  goods.  Toward  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  these  women  were  greatly  distressed  by  the  Lom¬ 
bards  and  other  Italians,  who  imported  into  the  country 
the  same  sort  of  goods,  and  in  such  quantities  that  their 
sale  was  hindered  and  the  workers  placed  in  danger  of 
starvation.  This  led  to  a  reference  of  their  complaint  to 
Parliament,  with  a  statement  of  the  grievances  for  which 
they  desired  redress.  This  document  bore  the  title:  The 
petition  of  the  silk  women  and  throwesters  of  the  craftes  and 
occupation  of  silk-work  within  the  city  of  London,  which  he, 
and  have  been,  craftes  of  women  within  the  same  city  of  time 
that  no  man  rememhereth  the  contrary.  The  petition  then 
goes  on  to  set  forth  “that  by  this  business  many  reputable 
families  have  been  well  supported;  and  young  women  kept 
from  idleness  by  learning  the  same  business,  and  put  into 
a  way  of  living  with  credit,  and  many  have  thereby  grown 
to  great  worship;  and  never  any  thing  of  silk  brought  into 
this  land,  concerning  the  same  craftes  and  occupations  in 
any  wise  wrought  but  in  the  raw  silk  alone,  unwrought, 
until  now  of  late  that  divers  Lombards  and  others,  aliens 
and  strangers,  with  a  view  of  destroying  the  silk-working 
in  this  kingdom,  and  transferring  the  manufactories  to  for¬ 
eign  countries,  do  daily  bring  into  this  land,”  etc.  Then 
follows  a  statement  of  the  inferior  grades  of  fabrics  thus 
introduced,  which  the  complaint  said  was  “to  the  great 
detriment  and  utter  destruction  of  the  said  craftes;  which 
is  like  to  cause  great  idleness  among  the  young  gentle¬ 
women  and  other  apprentices  to  the  same  craftes.”  The 
petition  that  the  importation  of  these  goods  should  be  pro¬ 
hibited  was  granted,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  these  esti¬ 
mable  ladies  and  little  of  their  infant  industry.  It  was 
then  thought  no  disgrace  for  a  lady  of  quality  to  conduct 
such  household  manufactories. 


WOMAN 


184 

The  town-dwelling  woman  looked  down  upon  her  rural 
sister,  a  fact  that  is  not  at  all  surprising  when  the  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  condition  of  the  two  classes  of  women  is  con¬ 
sidered.  The  town-dwelling  woman  had  the  privileges  of 
guild  association  and  the  liberties  which  it  gave  her,  while 
the  woman  in  the  agricultural  districts  was  but  a  drudge. 
The  former  were  identified  with  manufactures  and  com¬ 
merce,  while  the  latter  were  tied  to  the  soil.  Even  after  the 
rise  of  copyhold  tenure  of  land,  the  grievances  of  the  agri¬ 
cultural  population  were  considerable,  and  of  many  sorts. 
While  the  villains  flocked  to  London  to  demand  legal  ex¬ 
emption  from  the  old  labor  obligations  which  went  along 
with  such  servile  condition,  the  cottars  claimed  freedom 
from  labor  rents  for  their  homes,  and  the  copyholders  of 
all  kinds  demanded  that  they  should  not  be  compelled  to 
grind  at  the  lord’s  mill  the  corn  which  they  raised  for 
their  household  needs.  The  rising  tide  of  industrial  revo¬ 
lution  represented  a  climax  of  centuries  of  grievance;  and 
when  the  revolt  did  come,  it  was  as  a  demand  for  the 
manumission  of  property  held  in  villanage.  There  was 
at  the  time  hardly  any  personal  servitude  demanding  such 
strenuous  measures  for  betterment.  The  popular  agitation 
seemed  to  be  enlisted  against  class  impositions,  and  so  the 
following  lines: 

“  When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span, 

Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ?  ” 

became  the  slogan  of  the  insurgents. 

It  is  not  possible  to  ascertain  how  particular  grievances 
in  Kent  and  Essex  became  identified  with  the  general 
movements  of  the  peasantry  south  of  the  Thames  and 
in  many  parts  of  the  midland.  The  vast  movement, 
however,  extended  throughout  the  agricultural  districts, 
and  included  burgesses  of  towns,  rural  priests,  yeomen, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  185 


and  farm  laborers.  It  is  unlikely  that  a  personal  griev¬ 
ance  should  have  caused  it,  but  it  was  precipitated  by 
such.  The  immediate  occasion  was  the  indignation  which 
was  aroused  at  an  outrage  committed  by  one  of  the  tax 
collectors  on  the  daughter  of  Wat  the  Tyler.  As  the  in¬ 
dignation  which  centred  in  the  sentiment  against  this 
act  served  to  cement  the  feeling  of  injustice  which  was 
prevalent  among  the  peasantry,  so  it  is  probable  that 
the  act  itself  was  not  a  solitary  instance,  but  only 
one  of  many  indignities  which  were  suffered  by  the 
peasantry  at  the  hands  of  the  representatives  of  those 
above  them.  Although  the  insurrection  soon  came  to  an 
end,  and  those  who  were  responsible  for  it  suffered  the 
severest  penalties,  nevertheless  the  various  “statutes  of 
laborers”  which  from  this  date  appear  on  the  statute  book 
show  that  the  day  had  gone  by  when  the  lords  of  manors 
could  require  the  personal  services  of  tenants  in  return  for 
the  lands  they  held;  so  that  the  one  thousand  five  hundred 
persons  who  were  executed  for  this  social  uprising  died  as 
a  protest  against  grievances  of  the  poor  tenantry,  which 
were  corrected  by  legislation. 

By  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  manorial 
courts  had  lost  much  of  their  former  vigor;  and  there  were 
frequent  instances  of  villain  tenants  sending  their  daugh¬ 
ters  to  service  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  manors,  in  spite 
of  the  requirement  of  a  license  so  to  do.  Daughters  were 
also  married  without  reference  to  the  lord,  or  obtaining  his 
permission,  or  paying  the  fee.  As  a  result  of  their  ex¬ 
tended  liberties,  women  as  well  as  men  deserted  the 
country  in  large  numbers  and  resorted  to  the  towns.  The 
population  thus  became  much  more  mobile,  and  among 
the  people  there  was  a  wider  degree  of  intelligence  be¬ 
cause  of  this  fact  and  of  their  more  varied  experience. 
As  women  are  the  progenitors  of  the  race,  it  is  always 


WOMAN 


1 86 

important  for  the  intelligence  of  a  people  that  the  mothers 
shall  not  be  stupid  and  inane  creatures  such  as  were  for  the 
most  part  the  women  of  the  agricultural  classes  in  England 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  were 
limited  to  the  narrow  confines  of  homes,  humble  indeed, 
and  yet  homes  which  they  could  not  feel  were  their  own, 
and  they  could  not  leave  these  habitations  excepting  under 
conditions  which  were  practically  prohibitive.  Their  days 
were  spent  in  an  unvarying  monotony  of  domestic  duties 
and  farm  labor,  which  afforded  no  stimulus  to  the  mind  or 
food  for  the  soul.  It  is  not  strange  that  morals  were  as 
depraved  as  manners  were  uncouth.  In  the  imagination, 
superstition  took  the  place  that  was  unoccupied  by  intelli¬ 
gence;  and  the  world  of  the  peasant  woman,  who  went 
about  her  round  of  daily  hardship,  was  peopled  by  a  throng 
of  supernatural  creatures,  and  her  life  spent  in  fear  of 
violation  of  some  of  those  strange  rules  of  conduct  which 
now  form  interesting  matter  for  the  student  of  folklore. 

It  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  hardship  of  the  agricul¬ 
turist  of  the  Middle  Ages;  and  as  she  was  an  active 
participant  in  such  labors,  besides  having  upon  her  the 
burdens  which  commonly  belong  to  the  mother  of  a  house¬ 
hold,  the  woman  of  the  times  had  to  bear  duties  much 
beyond  those  of  a  woman  in  a  similar  grade  of  life  in  Eng¬ 
land  to-day.  The  great  pestilences  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  swept  away  so  many  lives  that,  for 
two  centuries  and  a  half  before  the  accession  of  Henry  VIE, 
the  growth  of  population  was  so  slight  as  to  be  scarcely 
calculable.  The  unsanitary  condition  of  the  homes  in  gen¬ 
eral  was  greatly  injurious  to  health;  but  this  was  espe¬ 
cially  so  of  the  homes  of  the  humble,  the  women  of  which 
had  no  ideas  of  cleanliness,  either  in  person  or  surround¬ 
ings.  The  weekly  shilling  or  ninepence  of  the  agricultural 
laborer  must  have  been  distressingly  inadequate  for  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  187 

needs  of  the  household.  These  included  wheat  or  rye, 
which  formed  the  staple  of  living,  the  rent  of  the  cottage, 
the  usual  manor  dues,  the  national  tax,  something  for 
clothing,  medicine  for  the  children,  and  occasional  items 
which  would  enter  into  a  complete  enumeration.  Even  if  the 
wife,  as  was  frequently  the  case,  had  to  bear  the  burden 
of  her  own  support  by  engaging  in  some  form  of  industrial 
activity  in  connection  with  her  other  duties,  the  wage  of 
the  husband  was  barely  enough  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
remainder  of  the  family,  and  he  had  not  a  farthing  left  for 
“  rainy  days,”  which  were  of  frequent  occurrence,  or 
for  those  common  and  extraordinary  exactions  which  could 
not  be  evaded.  So  rigidly  were  the  taxes  levied,  even 
upon  the  poorest,  that  every  form  of  possession  came 
under  tribute;  thus,  the  pet  lamb  of  a  poor  man,  which 
may  have  been  the  one  source  of  joy  to  his  children  and 
pleasure  to  his  wife,  appears  in  an  inventory  of  Colchester 
as  amerced  for  sixpence.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  to 
which  this  entry  refers,  the  master  of  a  tenant  was  for¬ 
bidden  by  the  Statutes  of  Laborers  to  assist  him  by  reliev¬ 
ing  his  poverty;  and  even  in  case  of  illness  of  his  wife  or 
children,  the  master  could  not  legally  furnish  him  aid.  So 
onerous  was  the  income  tax,  levied  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  foreign  wars,  that  it  was  not  uncommon  for  bequests  of 
money  to  be  made  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  in  paying  it. 
The  laborer  had  attached  to  his  cottage  a  small  piece  of 
ground,  which  his  wife  and  himself  tilled;  he  might  also 
feed  his  goose  or  his  sheep  upon  the  manor  waste,  but 
only  on  the  sufferance  of  his  master. 

By  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  lot  of  this  class 
of  England’s  population  became  almost  unendurable.  The 
women,  who  bore  more  than  their  share  of  the  burden  of 
work  in  an  attempt  to  provide  the  bare  necessities  of  ex¬ 
istence,  were  bowed  under  a  weight  of  misery  which  made 


WOMAN 


1 88 

that  existence  endurable  only  because  they  knew  of  none 
better,  or  none  which  could  possibly  come  within  the 
range  of  their  narrow  hopes.  The  wretched  condition  of 
life  among  those  whose  possessions  were  so  limited  is  well 
summed  up  in  the  following  quotation  from  an  article  by 
Dr.  Augustus  Jessup  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  Febru¬ 
ary,  1884;  he  says:  such  people  “were  more  wretched  in 
their  poverty,  incomparably  less  prosperous  in  their  pros¬ 
perity,  worse  clad,  worse  fed,  worse  housed,  worse  taught, 
worse  tended,  worse  governed,”  than  the  peasants  of  the 
present  day;  “they  were  sufferers  from  loathsome  dis¬ 
eases  their  descendants  know  nothing  of;  the  very  beasts 
of  the  field  were  dwarfed  and  stunted  in  their  growth;  the 
death  rate  among  children  was  tremendous;  the  disregard 
of  human  life  was  so  callous  that  we  can  hardly  conceive 
it;  there  was  everything  to  harden,  nothing  to  soften; 
everywhere  oppression,  greed,  and  fierceness.” 

Although  wages  were  higher  by  the  end  of  the  century, 
reaching  fourpence  a  day,  meat,  cheese,  and  butter  were 
much  dearer  than  at  its  beginning,  so  that  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  last  of  the  century  found  the  condition  of  the  laborer 
at  all  improved  in  this  respect.  As  labor  was  suspended 
on  the  holidays  of  the  Church  and  for  a  half-day  on  the 
eves  of  those  holidays,  and  as  the  laborer  was  forbidden 
to  receive  more  than  a  half-day's  wage  every  Saturday, 
the  men  and  women  most  anxious  to  work,  even  if  they 
could  obtain  constant  employment,  could  not  average  more 
than  four  and  one-half  profitable  days  per  week.  It  is  not 
surprising  that,  for  want  of  nutrition,  there  was  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages  a  wide  prevalence  of  fever,  the  large 
death  rate  of  women  and  children  from  this  cause  affording 
evidence  of  their  physical  weakness. 

The  wage  of  women  employed  in  agricultural  labor  in 
the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century  was  at  the  rate  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  189 


a  penny  a  day,  although  this  was  not  uniform;  and  in 
some  parts  of  the  kingdom  they  received  considerably 
more.  Their  duties  on  the  farm  consisted,  in  part,  in 
“dibbling  beans,  in  weeding  corn,  in  making  hay,  in  as¬ 
sisting  the  sheep  shearers  and  washing  the  sheep,  in  filling 
the  muck  carts  with  manure  and  in  spreading  it  upon  the 
lands,  in  shearing  corn,  but  especially  in  reaping  stubble 
after  the  ears  of  corn  had  been  cut  off  by  the  shearers, 
in  binding  and  stacking  sheaves,  in  thatching  ricks  and 
houses,  in  watching  in  the  fields  to  prevent  cattle  straying 
into  the  corn,  or,  armed  with  a  sling,  in  scaring  birds  from 
the  seed  or  ripening  corn,  and  similar  occupations.  That 
they  might  not  fail  of  employment  to  fill  up  the  measure 
of  the  hours,  there  was  the  winding  and  spinning  of  wool 
to  stop  a  gap.”  But  these  were  not  the  sole  employments 
of  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  medieval  farmer,  for 
they  took  their  part  in  all  farmwork  together  with  their 
husbands  and  fathers.  After  the  “black  death”  had  made 
such  terrible  inroads  upon  the  rural  population  of  England, 
a  woman  received  a  wage  that  seldom  went  below  two¬ 
pence  for  a  day’s  work;  but  this  amount  was  diminished 
by  the  effect  of  one  of  the  Statutes  of  Laborers,  which  re¬ 
quired  that  every  woman  not  having  a  craft — that  is,  not 
a  town  dweller,  nor  possessed  of  property  of  her  own — 
should  work  on  a  farm  equally  with  a  man,  and,  like  the 
man,  she  should  not  leave  the  manor  or  the  district  in 
which  she  customarily  lived,  to  seek  work  elsewhere.  It 
was  difficult  for  a  woman  of  the  agricultural  classes  to  pass 
out  of  the  dreary  sphere  in  which  she  lived,  for  it  was 
enjoined  that  if  a  girl  before  the  age  of  twelve  years — 
significant  of  the  time  when  she  was  supposed  to  be  a 
woman — put  her  hands  to  works  of  industry,  she  must 
remain  for  the  rest  of  her  life  an  agricultural  laborer,  and 
was  not  permitted  to  be  apprenticed  to  learn  a  trade. 


WOMAN 


190 

These  regulations  were,  of  course,  very  often  honored  in 
the  breach,  but  nevertheless  they  were  frequently  en¬ 
forced. 

The  poverty  of  the  peasantry  made  it  necessary  for 
them  to  make  for  themselves  almost  everything  that 
entered  into  the  needs  of  their  life, — their  houses,  their 
clothing,  their  agricultural  implements,  and  most  of  their 
household  articles.  Flax  was  raised,  and  from  it  the 
women  manufactured  the  linen  for  the  ladies  of  the  hall; 
from  hemp  they  made  the  coarse  sackcloth  for  their  under¬ 
clothing,  and  they  spun  and  wove  the  wool  shorn  from 
the  backs  of  their  few  sheep  for  their  outer  clothing.  The 
women  of  this  class  frequently  could  not  afford  an  oven  of 
their  own,  and  so  the  flour  which  was  made  from  the  grain 
that  was  required  to  be  ground  at  the  lord’s  mill  was  also 
baked  in  his  oven.  The  simple  medicines  were  brewed 
by  the  housewife  from  the  herbs  which  grew  by  the  copse 
side  or  on  the  commons  or  in  the  ditches.  When  the 
manufacture  of  wool  and  flax  was  withdrawn  to  the  towns, 
the  labor  of  the  women  was  to  that  extent  lightened, 
although  their  income  was  correspondingly  lessened. 

The  condition  of  the  very  poor  was  pitiful  in  the  ex¬ 
treme;  as  there  had  been  no  opportunity  for  the  laying  up 
of  provision  for  old  age,  the  only  recourse  for  the  women 
and  men  alike,  when  indigency  and  age  overtook  them, 
was  to  seek  shelter  in  the  almshouses  which  had  been 
founded  for  the  decrepit  and  the  destitute.  Many  yielded 
to  their  “miserable  cares  and  troubles,”  and  died  from 
starvation.  By  the  fifteenth  century  the  monasteries  had 
ceased  to  be  important  centres  for  the  dispensing  of  char¬ 
ity,  so  that  relief  from  destitution  could  not  be  looked  for 
from  that  source.  The  conventual  orders,  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  the  nation,  had  become  burdened  with 
debt  through  the  wars  at  home  and  abroad.  The  numerous 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  191 

regulations  for  the  control  of  beggars,  and  the  licenses 
which  were  issued  to  regulate  the  practice,  show  the  great 
prevalence  of  real  poverty  and  want  during  the  whole  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  although  throughout  the  Middle  Ages 
mendicancy  was  familiar  enough. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  women  of  the  industrial 
classes  during  the  Middle  Ages.  The  period  that  witnessed 
the  transition  from  the  Middle  Ages  into  modern  times,  the 
breakup  of  feudalism,  and  the  construction  of  society  upon 
a  different  basis,  was,  as  transitional  periods  are  apt  to  be, 
one  of  peculiar  stress.  And  as  this  period  in  England  was 
marked  by  severe  wars,  with  all  the  blight  and  desolation 
which  they  bring  to  a  land,  it  was  one  of  especial  severity 
upon  those  who  had  to  bear  the  burden  of  such  under¬ 
takings.  Not  only  was  the  standard  of  living  brought  low, 
and  the  comforts  of  life  reduced  to  the  bare  necessities, 
but  manners  were  as  disastrously  affected  as  was  the 
economy  of  the  realm.  Crime  and  violence  stalked  through 
the  country,  seemingly  under  no  restraint;  and  from  the 
prevalence  of  deeds  of  violence,  it  is  very  clear  that  law 
was  not  only  ineffectual,  but  that  public  sentiment  was 
not  strong  enough  to  create  a  better  state  of  affairs.  The 
condition  was  not  unlike  that  which  prevailed  in  Ireland  at 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Women  were 
the  chief  sufferers  from  the  prevalent  lawlessness.  They 
were  seized  at  night,  and,  after  being  dishonored,  were 
compelled  to  go  to  the  church,  where  the  priest,  under 
threats  and  despite  the  protests  of  the  victims,  performed 
the  ceremony  which  linked  them  to  their  captors.  It  mat¬ 
tered  little  if  the  woman  happened  to  be  already  married, 
as  such  proceedings  were  supposed  by  many  to  constitute 
a  sufficient  divorce.  Rent  riots  were  of  everyday  occur¬ 
rence,  and  murders  were  not  unusual.  It  was  not  alto¬ 
gether  the  poor  who  were  involved  in  such  deeds  of 


192 


WOMAN 


violence,  as  there  were  among  them  agitators  from  the 
upper  classes,  who  not  only  urged  them  on,  but  them¬ 
selves  took  part  in  all  such  outrages.  Often  murders  and 
other  forms  of  violence  grew  out  of  the  practice  of  men  of 
quality  having  about  them  bands  of  retainers  who  were 
frequently  the  roughest  of  characters,  including  men  under 
indictment  for  capital  offences.  No  class  was  quite  secure 
from  the  disorderly  elements  of  the  population,  but  the 
women  of  the  country  districts  were  more  frequently  the 
sufferers  than  were  their  sisters  of  the  towns. 

The  great  increase  of  sensuality,  the  low  esteem  in 
which  women  were  held,  and  the  little  regard  they  mani¬ 
fested  for  their  own  characters,  showed  the  decadence  into 
which  the  spirit  of  chivalry  had  fallen.  Being  a  child  of 
feudalism,  with  the  decay  of  that  system  it  went  into 
eclipse.  Nevertheless,  chivalry  contributed  to  English  life 
real  benefits,  apart  from  the  elevation  of  women,  and 
these  remained  permanent  factors  in  the  character  of  the 
nation. 


©ijaptct  tx 

©Homen  of  tfjc  ^Transition  $ertoti 


. 


. 

* 

■ 


IX 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD 

THE  authorities  upon  whom  we  depend  for  information 
as  to  the  condition  of  the  industrial  classes — particularly 
the  agricultural — during  the  fifteenth  century  are  in  such 
hopeless  conflict  that  it  is  impossible  to  do  more  than 
follow  the  views  of  some  one  of  them,  with  such  modifica¬ 
tions  and  checks  as  may  be  reasonably  introduced  from 
the  others.  The  picture  already  drawn  of  the  utterly 
miserable  condition  of  the  peasantry  during  that  century 
is  not  ratified  by  all  the  writers,  and  yet  the  interpretation 
of  the  data,  conflicting  as  it  is,  must  lead  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  condition  of  that  class  of  English  society  was  far 
from  being  roseate,  and  that,  in  the  main,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  overdraw  the  misery  which  existed;  but  this 
condition  was  ameliorated  to  some  extent  by  the  introduc¬ 
tion  into  rural  districts  of  domestic  manufactures,  after  the 
decay  of  agriculture.  The  compensation  that  accrued  to 
the  peasantry  by  a  growth  in  the  clothing  trade  counter¬ 
balanced,  in  a  measure,  their  other  losses,  while  it  also 
brought  the  rural  districts  into  industrial  relation  with  the 
towns  and  aided  in  bridging  the  chasm  between  the  two. 
The  industry  was  of  a  nature  to  enlist  the  activities  of  the 
women  of  the  households  and  to  bring  them  into  contact 
with  the  commercial  life  of  the  nation,  in  a  lesser  degree 
than  their  sisters  of  the  craft  guilds,  it  is  true,  but  still  in 

195 


196 


WOMAN 


a  way  that  had  an  important  bearing  upon  the  industrial 
history  of  the  country. 

The  Wars  of  the  Roses,  which  had  been  so  destructive 
to  the  nobility,  and  the  tendency  of  the  crown  to  depend 
upon  the  gentry  as  a  balance  to  the  power  of  the  feudal 
barons,  aided  in  making  more  certain  and  rapid  the  advance 
of  the  middle  class.  The  style  of  living  is  a  sure  index  of 
the  degree  of  prosperity;  there  was  a  great  increase  in  the 
number  as  well  as  in  the  size  of  the  houses  which  ranked 
in  importance  between  the  castle  of  the  baron  and  the 
cottage  of  the  peasant.  Also,  we  meet  with  a  change  for 
the  better  in  the  equipment  of  such  houses.  Instead  of  a 
few  pieces  of  furniture,  rude  and  primitive,  it  is  not  unusual 
in  the  inventories  of  this  time  to  find  complete  suits  of 
furniture  for  the  various  rooms  of  the  house.  All  of  the 
country  gentlemen  and  more  prosperous  burghers  pos¬ 
sessed  quantities  of  plate.  The  custom  of  having  but  one 
bedroom,  or  two  at  most,  and  obliging  guests  and  servants 
to  sleep  in  the  great  hall  or  in  rude  shacks  temporarily 
erected  for  their  accommodation,  was  no  longer  common 
in  this  class  of  society.  With  the  increase,  of  the  number 
of  rooms  in  the  houses,  the  importance  of  the  hall  dimin¬ 
ished.  Town  and  country  houses  alike  were  now  gener¬ 
ally  built  around  an  interior  court,  into  which  the  rooms 
looked,  and  the  windows  opening  upon  the  street  and 
country  were  small  and  unimportant.  This  was  not  sim¬ 
ply  an  architectural  change,  but  was  due  to  the  necessity 
of  studying  security  on  account  of  the  disturbed  state  of 
society.  Men  were  beginning  to  appreciate  good  houses, 
and  the  women  had  greater  resources  in  the  way  of 
household  utensils  and  furnishings,  particularly  in  those 
pertaining  to  the  kitchen.  The  glittering  rows  of  pewter 
and  plate  were  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  house¬ 
wives,  and  were  largely  depended  upon  to  establish  their 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  197 

claim  to  social  distinction.  The  art  of  making  bricks, 
which  had  been  lost  since  the  departure  of  the  Romans 
from  Britain,  was  revived,  and  the  establishment  of  brick¬ 
kilns  stimulated  building.  By  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  domestic  house  was  entirely  differentiated 
from  the  castle.  The  materials  for  dwellings  were  of  the 
sort  readiest  to  hand.  In  the  eastern  counties,  where  clay 
was  more  abundant  than  stone,  bricks  were  commonly  used, 
while  elsewhere  the  houses  were  built  of  stone  or  wood. 

The  dwellings  of  the  fifteenth  century  were  commodious 
and  convenient.  A  typical  country  house  may  be  described 
as  follows:  a  door  on  the  ground  floor  led  into  the  hall, 
while  a  staircase  on  the  outside  led  to  the  first  floor 
proper.  Inside  the  door  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  was  to 
be  found  a  shorter  staircase,  which  led  to  the  floor  on 
which  were  situated  the  chambers.  Passing  into  the  hall, 
the  visitor  would  find  himself  in  the  most  spacious  apart¬ 
ment  of  the  house.  It  remained  as  it  had  been  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  public  room,  open  to  all  who  were 
admitted  within  the  precincts  of  the  establishment.  The 
permanent  furniture  consisted  chiefly  of  benches,  and  a 
seat  with  a  back  to  it,  which  was  used  by  the  superior 
members  of  the  family.  In  the  hall  there  was  usually  at 
least  one  table  which  was  a  fixture,  but  the  other  tables 
continued  to  be  made  up  from  planks  and  trestles  when 
needed.  Cushions  and  ornamental  cloths  to  place  over 
the  seats  and  backs  of  benches  were  in  general  use,  and 
on  special  occasions  the  tapestries,  some  of  which  had 
been  in  the  families  for  generations,  were  brought  out, 
though  apparently  they  were  not  used  on  ordinary  occa¬ 
sions.  The  sideboard  was  one  of  the  most  familiar  articles 
of  furniture,  and  upon  it  was  arranged  the  plate,  which 
was  in  charge  of  the  butler,  and  was  intended  as  much 
for  display  as  for  use.  In  the  large  mansions,  as  in  the 


198 


WOMAN 


castles,  the  hall  was  not  complete  without  the  minstrels’ 
gallery  and  a  dais;  though  inconveniently  large,  it  was 
well  warmed  and  lighted,  and  the  walls  were  often  deco¬ 
rated  with  stags’  antlers  on  which  to  hang  the  men’s  hats 
and  caps,  hunting  horns  and  such  accessories  of  the  chase, 
beside  which  were  suspended  arms  and  armor  and  fishing 
nets;  while  on  the  sideboard  might  be  found  writing  ma¬ 
terials  and  a  book  or  two.  The  fresh  rushes  with  which 
the  floor  was  strewn  gave  forth,  when  first  placed,  a  re¬ 
freshing  smell  when  crushed  by  the  foot. 

The  setting  of  the  table  was  much  the  same  as  it  had 
been.  Knives  were  not  ordinarily  placed  upon  it,  because 
of  the  custom  of  the  times  for  each  person  to  carry  his 
own  knife.  Salt  was  regarded  with  superstition,  and  it 
was  thought  desirable  that  it  should  be  placed  upon  the 
table  before  other  comestibles.  There  was  little  attempt 
to  keep  the  tiled  floor  clean  except  by  strewing  it  with 
rushes,  and  for  guests  or  members  of  the  household  to 
throw  bones  or  other  debris  of  the  table  upon  the  floor  was 
not  looked  upon  as  an  offence  against  manners;  indeed, 
dogs  were  almost  invariably  present,  and  awaited,  as  cus¬ 
tomary,  their  meals  at  the  hands  of  the  guests.  However, 
the  directions  for  behavior  at  table  instructed  the  person 
not  to  spit  upon  the  table,  by  which  intimation  it  was  deli¬ 
cately  hinted  that  the  proper  place  upon  which  to  expecto¬ 
rate  was  the  floor.  Again,  the  guest  is  told  that  when  he 
makes  sops  in  the  wine,  he  must  either  drink  all  the  wine 
in  the  glass  or  else  throw  it  on  the  floor.  The  uncleanli¬ 
ness  of  the  seats  is  also  suggested  by  the  instruction  given 
the  learner  in  etiquette  that  he  should  always  first  look  at 
the  seat  before  occupying  it,  to  be  sure  there  was  nothing 
dirty  upon  it.  Table  manners  had  lost  some  of  their  cere¬ 
mony,  but  had  retained  all  of  their  rudeness.  Forks  were 
not  used  to  convey  food  to  the  mouth,  fingers  answering 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  199 


every  purpose,  but  it  was  considered  bad  manners  to  eat 
with  a  knife.  Other  rules  for  the  table  are  curious 
enough,  but  are  also  important  as  illustrating  the  manners 
of  the  century.  Some  of  them  are  too  disgusting  to  men¬ 
tion;  others,  not  open  to  this  objection,  may  be  instanced. 
The  guest  was  directed  not  to  dip  his  meat  in  the  saltcellar 
to  salt  it,  but  to  take  a  little  salt  with  his  knife  and  put  it 
on  his  meat,  not  to  drink  with  a  dirty  mouth,  not  to  offer 
another  person  the  remains  of  his  pottage,  not  to  eat  too 
much  cheese,  and  to  take  only  two  or  three  nuts  when 
they  were  placed  before  him.  Still  other  rules  are  not 
without  point,  such  as  not  to  roll  one’s  napkin  into  a 
cord  or  tie  it  into  knots,  and  not  to  get  intoxicated  during 
dinner  time! 

Let  us  now  take  a  glance  at  the  table  service  of  a  noble 
dame  of  the  period,  where  the  extreme  of  etiquette  may 
be  expected  to  prevail.  The  hunting  horn  having  an¬ 
nounced  that  the  meal  awaits  the  guests,  squires  or  pages 
bear  to  them  scented  water  for  the  customary  ablutions. 
This  is  served  in  delicately  wrought  ewers,  placed  in  silver 
basins.  A  further  touch  of  delicacy  to  the  repast  is  often 
provided  by  perfumed  herbs  scattered  over  the  rich  damask 
tablecloth.  The  guests  are  not  inconvenienced  by  the 
crowding  of  decorative  vessels  on  the  board.  The  numer¬ 
ous  courses  are  well  served,  for  a  superior  domestic  is 
charged  with  this  duty,  and  he  is  assisted  by  two  varlets. 
At  the  sideboard  is  a  squire  or  page  whose  sole  duty  is  to 
serve  the  wines  and  drinking  vessels;  he  too  is  assisted 
by  a  varlet,  who  places  them  before  the  several  guests. 
None  of  these  attendants  are  required  to  leave  the  hall,  to 
which  the  officers  of  the  kitchen  and  the  cellar  bring  the 
dishes  and  the  wines.  During  the  meal  the  gallery  is 
occupied  by  the  musicians,  who,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  will 
serve  to  enliven  the  formalities  attendant  on  the  scene. 


200 


WOMAN 


The  parlor  was  a  more  pretentious  room  than  the  hall, 
and  was  ornamented  with  more  care.  While  it  was  a 
usual  feature  of  town  houses  of  the  period,  it  had  been 
introduced  so  comparatively  late  that  its  final  position  in 
the  plan  of  the  house  had  not  become  fixed;  sometimes  it 
was  upon  the  ground  floor,  and  sometimes  upon  the  floor 
above,  while  the  larger  houses  had  several  such  apart¬ 
ments.  It  had  open  recesses  with  fixed  seats  on  each 
side  of  the  window,  and  the  fireplace  was  smaller  and 
more  comforting  than  those  of  the  hall.  When  carpets 
came  into  use,  the  parlor  was  the  first  room  to  be  treated 
to  the  luxury,  and  it  had  the  additional  distinction  of  being 
the  only  room  that  contained  a  cupboard.  An  inventory 
of  the  furniture  of  the  parlor  of  a  fifteenth-century  house 
includes  the  following:  a  hanging  of  worsted,  red  and 
green;  a  cupboard  of  ash  boards;  a  table  and  a  pair  of 
trestles;  a  branch  of  latten,  with  four  lights;  a  pair  of  and^ 
irons;  a  pair  of  tongs;  a  form  to  sit  upon,  and  a  chair.  It 
will  be  seen  from  this  list  that  the  furnishings  for  a  parlor 
were  not  numerous,  but  they  are  suggestive  of  a  degree  of 
comfort  greatly  in  advance  of  that  of  prior  centuries.  This 
paucity  of  household  furniture  did  not  arise  so  much  from 
the  inability  to  procure  it  as  from  the  insecurity  of  the 
times.  Margaret  Paston,  in  a  letter  to  her  husband,  written 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  says:  “Also,  if  ye  be  at  home 
this  Christmas,  it  were  well  done  ye  should  do  purvey  a 
garnish  or  twain  or  pewter  vessel,  two  basins  and  two 
ewers,  and  twelve  candlesticks,  for  ye  have  too  few  of 
any  of  these  to  serve  this  place;  I  am  afraid  to  purvey 
much  stuff  in  this  place,  till  we  be  sure  thereof. ” 

Wall  paintings  had  come  into  use  in  the  houses  of  the 
better  sort,  and  the  hardwood  finishings  of  the  parlor  and 
other  important  rooms  displayed  elaborate  carvings  and  a 
massiveness  and  dignity  of  scheme.  Among  the  newer 


DINING  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

From  a  miniature  of  the  period 


Vi 


.42 

S3 

Vi 

s 

<3 

Vi 


Vi 

^Sk 

*+sk 

<3 

^Sk 

Ss 

Vi 

V> 

'Vi 

'v. 

Vi 

Vi 

V 

53 

S3 

<3 

^0 


S3 


k 

V> 

kS 


^0 


^Sk 

S 

s 

S 

Sk 

^Sk 


'o 

5i 

Vi 

Vi 

■Ki 

k 

J5 

^Sk 

33 


Vi 

v. 

Vi 

Vi 

03 


si 

V. 

Vi 
.  v, 


•s 

k 

33 

Vi 

S 

$ 

^0 

<3 

k 

V 

Vi 

.k 

Sk 

S3 

S 

to 


<0 

Vo 

S 

Si 


£ 


Vi 


s 

t? 

Si 

V 


*b 

<3 

.Vi 

iVi 

Vi 

iV 

^3 


Vi 

•5 

S! 

Vi 


Vi 


.'o 

v> 


.<*5 

Vi 

^Vi 


Si 


*s 

Si 

c 

<3> 

<3 


b 

33 

Sk 

s 

s. 

£ 


Ss 

Vi 

Vi 

Vi 

V. 

.Vi 

Vi 

Vi 

<v 

Vi 


V> 

V 

tv 


•Vi 

Vi 

Vi 

k 

33 

43 

S* 

^0 

Vi 

,sSi 


V 
vi 
°3 

33 

v^i 

V 

Si 


Si 

Vi 

V 


Sk 

Sk 

Si 

s 

s 

Si 

Sk 

Si 

Ss 


1 

33 

Vi 

Vi 

3g 

Sk 

Sk 


Vi 

'o 

Vi 

& 

Vi 
.  <>> 
■£4 

33 

k 

Vi 

V 


°-0 

s 

■  V 

S3 


Vi 

k 

V 

Vi 

-b 


.'Kk 

Sk 


^3 

& 

<3 

<3 

V 

Sk 

.<0 

Sk 

*tsk 

S 

*§ 

k 

.Vi 

£ 

Vi 

■^v 

sj 

<0 

33 

k 

•vf 

v 

£ 

V 

'"2 

N 

S 

Vi 


v 

k 

<3 


Vi 

xt 

Sk 

Sk 

<0 


Sk 

■* 

33 

V) 

-V> 

^Vi 

Si 

<o 

3g 

Sk 

'♦Sk 


Vii 

^Vi 


33 

& 

v> 

S3 

>» 

S 

.<0 

Si 

.  ^ 
Sk 

K^Sk 


^3 

s 

s 

<3 

b 

•a 

Sk 


K 

S 

v^ 

s 
.  S 

s 

S 

s 


50 

Vi 

s>> 


Vi 

Sg 

Ssk 

Vi 

•s 

.  ^ 
S 

b 

s 

^3 

V) 

'o 

Vi 

Vi 

.vi 


K1 

^0 

k 

Vi 


■  s 

?3 

S 

'") 


Vi 

hsS^ 


■<3 

g 

V 

Vi 

^kk 

Vj 

KSk 


> 

Sk 

S 


^3 

V 

£ 

'o 

V 
.'o 

v> 

V 

£ 


Vi 

.V} 


s 

Vi 

«o 

Vi 

& 


^3 

.Vi 

S 

Vj 

Vo 

.  ^ 
s 

b 

§0 

Vi 

»^v> 


s 

<3 

Vi 

Vi 


Vi 

■vS> 


^0 


k 


^Sk 

'O 

Vu 

Sk 

s 

^0 

Ni 

5 

Vi 

5k 

Vi 


>3 

Sk 

s 

Sk 
.  Sk 
Sk 

.Vo 

s 

'o 

s 

Si 

S* 

s 

s 

Vu 


*  V 


;■<  ■» "  f:  *5 
Jaffi  t,  ■' 

•  it  •  5:  -  ..  ,.i 


•v?, 


■  ■  '  ’■'<  '  '  ■  •'  . 

■ 

■ 

'  V : >  ■ . 


'i .  ■■  y 

i . 

'  Jb  ;  ■'  • 

•  V.  •  ■  f  ‘  - 

■ 

•• 

:  ,  •  -.AS-  >':&■  ... 

.  v  '  ..."  . 

- 

: .  0->  ' 

•  .  #  •  i  .  V 


'  ;  j*  • 

Ski 

■  '  V. 


W  ;4- 

<■  •  ,  '  •  ' 


4) 


V  ’  -i;  '• 

"  >  •, 


'  :  -r> 

•  r. 


s  ■■■<■ 

*  -  \£  ■ 

'  v^' 


•if 


> 

:  ■  £ 

4  ft* 

^  ,• 


‘ ..  ^ 

C-O  w"- 

•  ,J 

r‘  <■■! 


■  SM  :  >.  - 

.  r> 

'  <A  J 

V'  ■ 

y  * 

0-‘ 

. "  a-‘ 


b:; 

,  ;  ..  .p  -  .f  ,- 

. 

ki  S 


£§ 


■  ' 

i’s  \  . 


;-'f.  '43'1 

< 

:ip' 


>■ 


;  -  <  \  *X- 


v: 


■  .*•  / 


•  '  \  i*r 

:  1 
..  ■«  ■ 

h* 

, '  l'  Xi 

■  .  < 


•A  ■ 

->•3  • 

tF:  ■ 

W 

:T>'  • 
;■>. 

y 

•  4.'.^ 

•V  ,  ' 

|W{« 

■  :;> 

;V.; 

y, 

j!  ■>’ 

■b 

"h  Z 

J? 


-I'  «-•  -?  ^  •  gr  ■*- 

'  * 


•*'  •>-  It'  . 

».*-  •  jCy 

fflt 


*  v 

•;  ■.&  :  44-  u 


•’  -s’  '•  ;  ^ 

-'4 


4 


Sv  ' 


V  v 

^  L*  ■  .■ 

f  .  - 

•  r>  ■  ■ 

.v  . 


•  ■ 

> '  'Nj  . 

' 

■  ,Sb; 

•y 

>V'v 

V-  : 

1:  ‘  /s 

■4' 

f..'-  ‘ 

-  .  psS/3 

•  ‘  '  V 

O' 

c< 

^  ; 

.  ay  • 

ft 

.  ^  . 

1  /-- 

:•  •  J- 

"3  , 

‘  / 

rv; 

-rv 

sc 

jb*.' '  .  ^ 

, 

v.fc 

•  -• 

'  .  /v' 

% 

'  .  •  t 

■-  V’ 

,-  r^*  *! 

"'.'f  v  ...  J’ 

'  Jb 

•4  V-*-' 

fc' 

■b  ‘ 

,l  ;  - 

.*  5'  . 

StF". 

2* 

- 

■  C*r 

*  ^ 

.j 

£• 

1 

5s 

: 

-r 

,  .r 

■  ^  •” 

✓ 

.,-fl 

'  ■  '  •  ,  V  r1'1^ 

»-4 

<:  . 

■  rr  t  ■  ■ :  ,  *  . 

• 

^  • 

,.8'S  , 

'  fc\ 

s:„ 

>  ■' 

'  . •  ... 


.,>4 


•;  .•  •  .  ^ 

■  ■  . '  ;  •  ■ 


l-' ; 

.>  MC 

,  £  • 


:$ 


'6-4  ’ 

o1 


,U/.  ~  ^ 

•b  ;-o  %■  >• 

>•  ;  ^  > 

■  . 

;  ■  -•  -  •  W  :'«-•« .  • 

t  ./■  t  ■  :4 

>•  '  ^  -b  ■$;>* 

■>  -3  'b-  4,  &■  < 

4  .j-  •  ■<, 


b-  '  '  .  yA 

.  ^  .  v  •  S 

3  y  -• 

-■  ■  ** 


3? 

c 


> 


,  . 

-b 


\  ,-i  .*•/•■ 

.\y“ 


C-  ■  v-p 


.  Jrl 

#- 


£  ■  e» . 

--  ■  :>•.  : 

•’  5  i  : 

’X'. * 


.  k>:  ■ 

■ «  >■  4:  :> 


■  4 


,  •  •  •  V.  - 


-•C5'. 

A  ',-K. 

••  *<•  - 

■  >  ‘  S> 

'  .  i  '  '.  ..  .. 


V  •  •  »•  *  f  • 

y-4 

f,-'  ■  'pb 


■  '  ’ ' ,  r 


■ 

..*  ■  ss 


•’•  i  .  '..i  ■•-•  ••  • 


. '  v:  ■ 


■  * '  .:•/  '  ■  ,* 

:  ;m  <:*.  . 

•  ■■  -y v  i  k : .  i'  ,  ■  •'J 

■  V  •  ■  "4  ' 

■  *:.•  .  ."#/  ■;  v  r  ...  :*f 

■  ■ 

■.  ’  •  v  ■  ';  t'4  r\ 

. 

<  •  \  .  '  * 

•  •  .  •  v  1  •  .  ■  ,  .  •  ••  ,  ’•  ■  f  ■  -  , 

V/.  -  V  '•  •  -■•••  .•  •.  .  •  .  1  .  r  I 


i  ■' 


-  , 


? 


,r0 

'  ?  4 


y:  :'K 

.  a » 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD 


201 


styles  of  chairs  was  one  of  the  folding  sort,  which  exactly 
resembled  our  camp  stools.  Griffins,  centaurs,  and  the 
like  were  patterns  for  candle  and  torch  holders,  which 
were  often  of  wrought  iron  of  an  elaborate  design.  The 
branch  of  latten  with  four  lights,  mentioned  in  the  inven¬ 
tory  quoted,  referred  to  a  sort  of  chandelier,  holding  four 
candles,  which  was  suspended  from  the  centre  of  the  ceiling 
and  was  raised  and  lowered  by  means  of  a  cord  and  pulley. 

As  the  people  began  to  lose  taste  for  the  hall,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  its  publicity,  they  gradually  withdrew  from  it  to 
the  parlors  for  many  of  the  purposes  to  which  the  hall  had 
been  originally  devoted.  The  recess  seat  at  the  windows 
was  the  favorite  place  for  the  female  members  of  the 
household  when  employed  in  needlework  and  other  seden¬ 
tary  occupations,  and  the  apartment  was  commonly  used 
for  the  family  meals.  In  a  little  treatise  dating  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  one  of  the  speakers  is  made  to 
say:  “So  down  we  came  again  into  the  parlor,  and  there 
found  divers  gentlemen,  all  strangers  to  me;  and  what 
should  I  say  more,  but  to  dinner  we  went.”  The  table, 
we  are  told,  “was  fair  spread  with  diaper  cloths,  the  cup¬ 
board  garnished  with  goodly  plate.”  Also,  the  parlors  re¬ 
lieved  the  bedchambers  of  many  of  the  uses  to  which 
they  had  been  put,  and  secured  to  them  greater  privacy. 
Largely  because  of  the  lack  of  any  other  place,  ladies  had 
been  accustomed  to  receive  their  friends  in  their  bedcham¬ 
bers,  but  now  the  parlor  was  used  for  a  reception  room, 
and  there  was  spent  much  of  the  time  which  the  female 
part  of  the  family  had  previously  passed  in  the  bower  or 
the  chamber. 

Young  ladies  of  even  the  great  families  were  brought  up 
very  strictly  by  their  mothers,  who  kept  them  constantly 
at  work  and  exacted  from  them  an  almost  slavish  respect. 
It  appears  from  the  correspondence  of  the  Paston  family, 


202 


WOMAN 


to  which  reference  has  been  made,  that  the  wife  of  Sir 
William  Paston,  the  judge,  was  a  very  harsh  mother. 
Jane  Claire,  a  kinswoman,  sent  to  John  Paston,  the  lady’s 
eldest  son,  an  account  of  the  severe  treatment  of  his  sister 
Elizabeth  at  Mrs.  Paston’s  hands.  The  young  lady  was 
of  marriageable  age,  and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Scroope 
had  been  suggested  as  her  husband.  Jane  Claire  writes: 
“Meseemeth  he  were  good  for  my  cousin,  your  sister, 
without  that  ye  might  get  her  a  better;  and  if  ye  can  get 
a  better,  I  would  advise  you  to  labour  it  in  as  short  time 
as  ye  may  goodly,  for  she  was  never  in  so  great  a  sorrow 
as  she  is  now-a-days,  for  she  may  not  speak  with  no  man, 
whosoever  come,  nor  even  may  see  nor  speak  with  my 
man,  nor  with  servants  of  her  mother’s,  but  that  she 
beareth  her  on  hand  otherwise  than  she  meaneth;  and 
she  hath  since  Easter  the  most  part  been  beaten  once  in  a 
week,  or  twice,  and  sometimes  twice  in  a  day,  and  her 
head  broken  in  two  or  three  places.  Wherefore,  cousin, 
she  hath  sent  to  me  by  friar  Newton  in  great  council,  and 
prayeth  me  that  I  would  send  to  you  a  letter  of  her  heavi¬ 
ness,  and  pray  you  to  be  her  good  brother,  as  her  trust  is 
in  you.”  Elizabeth  Paston’s  matrimonial  desires  were  not 
realized  at  this  time,  as  she  was  transferred  from  the 
household  of  her  parents  to  that  of  the  Lady  Pole;  this 
was  in  accordance  with  the  custom  which  we  have  already 
noticed  of  sending  away  young  ladies  to  great  houses, 
where  they  received  their  education  and  served  to  fill  up 
the  measure  of  pride  of  the  great  lady  to  whose  train  they 
were  attached.  The  larger  the  number  of  such  maidens  a 
lady  could  boast  of,  the  greater  was  her  importance;  nor 
did  she  hesitate  to  accept  payment  for  the  board  of  those 
of  whom  she  thus  took  charge,  and  from  whom  she  de¬ 
rived  further  profit  by  employing  them  at  lace  making  or 
other  suitable  work. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  203 

Young  ladies  were  taught  to  be  very  demure  and  formal 
in  their  behavior  in  company,  where  they  sat  bolt  upright, 
with  their  hands  crossed,  or  in  other  constrained  attitudes. 
In  a  poem,  written  about  1430,  entitled  How  the  Good  Wife 
Taughte  Hir  Dougtir,  we  have  the  rules  which  were  en¬ 
forced  upon  girls  for  their  conduct  in  society,  and  particu¬ 
larly  the  advice  which  was  tendered  the  girl  with  regard 
to  her  marriage  and  her  subsequent  conduct.  The  love  of 
God  and  attendance  upon  church  were  enjoined,  and  in 
the  performance  of  the  latter  duty  she  was  not  to  be  de¬ 
terred  by  bad  weather.  She  was  to  give  liberally  to  alms, 
and  while  in  attendance  upon  divine  service  was  to  pray 
and  not  to  chatter.  Courtesy  was  recommended  in  all  of 
the  relations  of  life;  and  when  the  time  came  that  she  was 
sought  in  marriage,  she  was  told  not  to  look  upon  her 
suitor  with  scorn,  whoever  he  might  be,  nor  to  keep  the 
matter  a  secret  from  her  friends.  She  was  not  to  sit  close 
to  him,  because  “  synne  mygte  be  wrought,”  and  a  slander 
be  thereby  raised,  which,  she  is  informed,  is  difficult  to 
still.  She  was  counselled,  when  married,  to  love  her  hus¬ 
band  and  answer  him  meekly;  she  was  to  be  well  man¬ 
nered,  not  to  be  rude,  nor  to  laugh  boisterously — or,  to 
give  it  as  it  is  expressed  in  the  poem,  “but  lauge  thou 
softe  and  myslde.”  Her  outdoor  conduct  also  was  regu¬ 
lated  for  her.  She  was  not  to  walk  fast,  nor  to  toss  her 
head,  nor  to  wriggle  her  shoulders;  she  was  not  to  use 
many  words,  nor  to  swear,  for  all  such  manners  come  to 
evil.  She  was  to  drink  only  in  moderation,  “For  if  thou 
be  ofte  drunke,  it  falle  thee  to  schame.”  She  was  to 
exercise  due  discretion  in  all  of  her  relations  with  the 
other  sex,  and  to  accept  from  them  no  presents.  She  was 
herself  to  work  and  to  see  that  those  under  her  were  kept 
employed;  to  have  faults  set  right  at  once,  keep  her  own 
keys,  and  to  be  careful  whom  she  trusted.  If  her  children 


204 


WOMAN 


gave  her  trouble  and  were  not  submissive,  she  must  not 
curse  or  scold  them,  but  “take  a  smert  rodde,  and  bete 
them  on  a  rowe  til  thei  crie  mercy.”  Besides  all  these 
enjoinments,  she  was  impressed  with  the  duty  of  benevo¬ 
lence,  and  was  to  act  as  physician  to  all  those  about  her. 

The  position  of  woman  at  this  time  was  clearly  defined. 
Certainly  the  woman  of  the  middle  classes  had  taken  her 
proper  place  in  society.  She  did  not  disdain  to  look  after 
the  affairs  of  her  establishment,  nor  was  this  regarded  as 
in  any  way  derogatory  to  her  dignity;  and  this  was  also 
true  of  women  in  the  highest  rank.  It  is  said  that,  as  a 
rule,  the  husband  and  wife  were  in  full  accord,  and  con¬ 
fided  in  one  another  upon  terms  of  equality.  The  wife 
was  careful  of  her  charge  at  home,  and  heedful  of  her 
husband’s  purse;  she  generally  made  her  own  as  well  as 
her  children’s  clothing,  if  the  material  were  to  be  had. 
No  wife  of  to-day  could  show  greater  solicitude  for  the 
comfort  and  well-being  of  her  husband  than  did  Dame 
Paston,  the  wife  of  John  Paston,  who  in  1449  wrote  to 
her  husband  a  letter  from  which  we  may  extract  the  fol¬ 
lowing:  “And  I  pray  you  also,  that  ye  be  wel  dyetyd  of 
mete  and  drynke,  for  that  is  the  grettest  helpe  that  ye 
may  have  now  to  your  helthe  ward.” 

The  wife  was  the  companion  of  her  husband  when  he 
was  at  home,  and  in  his  absence  entertained  his  guests 
with  all  the  graces  of  hospitality.  The  duties  of  the  day 
did  not  leave  her  a  great  deal  of  time  for  leisure,  for, 
besides  directing  the  conduct  of  the  establishment  and 
looking  after  her  maidens,  teaching  them  the  arts  of 
housewifery,  spinning,  weaving,  carding  wool  and  hackled 
flax,  embroidery,  and  garment  making,  there  were  the  pet 
birds  and  squirrels  in  cages  to  be  looked  after  and  fed. 
But  life  was  not  all  labor,  nor  were  the  maidens  of  the 
household  surfeited  with  instruction.  In  their  periods  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  205 


relaxation,  they  danced,  played  chess  and  draughts,  and 
read  the  latest  thing  in  romances  with  as  keen  interest  as 
the  modern  society  girl  evinces  in  the  most  recent  novel. 
To  be  informed  in  all  such  matters  was  essential  to  the 
standards  of  culture  of  the  day. 

One  of  the  pleasantest  features  of  the  country  life  of 
the  period  was  the  garden.  The  English  women  of  to-day 
are  no  fonder  of  outdoor  recreation  and  exercise  than  were 
their  predecessors  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Alone,  or  in 
parties  of  their  own  sex,  or  with  male  company,  they 
wandered  over  the  fields,  gathering  wild  flowers  and  pic¬ 
nicking  in  the  woods,  spreading  upon  the  grass  their  lunch 
of  bread,  wine,  fish,  and  pigeon  pies.  They  rode  on  horse¬ 
back,  and  went  hunting,  hawking,  and  rabbit  chasing. 
Their  presence  at  the  tournament  gave  it  its  greatest 
interest,  and  the  successful  contestants  considered  the 
awards  that  were  made  them  by  their  ladies  doubly  valu¬ 
able,  as  indicating  at  once  their  prowess  upon  the  field 
and  their  conquests  in  that  no  less  interesting  sphere  of 
sentiment  where  Cupid  bestows  the  favors. 

Perhaps  at  no  other  time  in  English  history  have  ladies 
shown  such  fondness  for  pets  as  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
There  are  frequent  references  to  them  in  the  literature  of 
the  day,  and  they  appear  in  many  of  the  illustrations; 
parrots,  magpies,  jays,  and  various  singing  birds  are  often 
mentioned  among  domestic  pets.  Various  kinds  of  small 
animals  were  also  tamed  and  kept  in  the  house,  either 
loose  or  in  cages,  squirrels  being  especially  in  favor  be¬ 
cause  of  their  liveliness  and  activity.  Gambling  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  vices  of  the  day.  It  was  not  until 
after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  cards  came 
into  very  general  use,  but  by  the  beginning  of  the  follow¬ 
ing  century  card  playing  had  passed  from  the  stage  of  fad 
and  become  a  passion.  After  the  table  was  removed,  one 


206 


WOMAN 


of  the  servants  would  bring  in  a  silver  bowl  full  of  dice 
and  cards,  and  the  company  would  be  invited  to  play.  So 
general  and  widespread  was  the  practice  that  early  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  an  attempt  was  made  to  restrict  the 
use  of  cards  to  the  Christmas  holidays.  Women  were 
hardly  less  inveterate  devotees  of  this  and  other  games  of 
chance  than  the  men,  although  it  is  not  to  be  concluded  that 
they  took  such  games  as  seriously  or  risked  as  large  sums 
as  did  the  other  sex.  Dinner  was  served  at  noon,  and  the 
games,  along  with  dancing,  usually  occupied  the  time  of 
the  leisure  classes  until  supper,  which  seems  to  have  been 
served  at  six  o’clock.  There  was,  of  course,  no  other 
form  of  amusement  that  was  so  well  adapted  to  polite 
circles,  or  that  could  be  participated  in  with  as  much 
pleasure  by  the  ladies,  as  dancing.  Many  new  dances 
had  been  introduced  and  become  fashionable,  and  these 
were  much  more  lively  than  those  of  the  earlier  period, 
some  so  spirited,  indeed,  as  to  scandalize  the  moralists  of 
the  time.  After  supper  the  amusements  were  resumed, 
and  continued  until  a  late  hour,  when  a  second,  or,  as  it 
was  called,  a  “  rere-supper,”  was  served. 

After  the  members  of  the  household  and  the  guests 
were  surfeited  with  amusements,  or  the  lateness  of  the 
hour  made  sleep  welcome,  they  retired  to  rest  in  the  upper 
chambers.  These  bedrooms  were  much  more  private  than 
they  had  formerly  been.  In  the  poem  Lady  Bessy,  when 
the  Earl  of  Derby  is  represented  as  plotting  with  Lady 
Bessy  in  aid  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond,  he  tells  her  that  he 
will  repair  secretly  to  her  chamber: 

“  ‘  We  must  depart  (separate),  lady,’  the  earl  said  then ; 
Wherefore,  keep  this  matter  secretly, 

And  this  same  night,  betwixt  nine  and  ten, 

In  your  chamber  I  think  to  be. 

Look  that  you  make  all  things  ready, 

Your  maids  shall  not  our  councell  hear, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  207 


For  I  will  bring  no  man  with  me 

But  Humphrey  Brereton,  my  true  esquire.’ 

He  took  his  leave  of  that  lady  fair, 

And  to  her  chamber  she  went  full  light, 

And  for  all  things  she  did  prepare, 

Both  pen  and  ink,  and  paper  white.” 

The  bedstead  now  came  to  be  much  more  ornamental 
than  in  previous  times.  The  canopy  which  had  formerly 
adorned  the  head  of  this  article  of  furniture  was  now 
usually  enlarged  so  as  to  cover  it  entirely.  It  was  often 
decorated  with  the  arms  of  the  owner,  with  religious 
emblems,  flowers,  or  some  other  form  of  ornamentation. 
The  bed  itself  consisted  of  a  hard  mattress,  and  was  often 
made  only  of  straw,  although  feather  beds  were  used  to 
some  extent  throughout  the  century.  Chaucer  describes 
a  couch  of  unusual  luxury  as  follows: 

“Of  downe  of  pure  do  vis  white 
I  wol  yeve  him  a  fethir  bed, 

Rayid  with  gold,  and  right  well  cled 
In  fine  blacke  sattin  d’outremere, 

And  many  a  pilowe,  and  every  bere  (pillow  cover) 

Of  clothe  of  Raines  to  slepe  on  softe ; 

Him  thare  (need)  not  to  turnen  ofte.’ 

This  description  of  a  bed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  four¬ 
teenth  century  holds  good  for  the  succeeding  century, 
although  the  bed  increased  in  luxuriousness  of  hangings. 
Feather  beds  and  bed  covers  are  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  bequests  of  the  times;  by  their  description,  they  show 
the  increase  in  the  comfort  and  richness  of  beds,  and,  by 
their  mention  in  wills,  the  value  that  was  placed  upon 
them.  With  the  increase  of  privacy  which  the  bedcham¬ 
bers  afforded  at  this  time,  the  practice  of  several  people 
sleeping  in  the  same  room  was  less  general. 

The  women  of  the  manor  house,  who  may  be  regarded 
as  succeeding  the  women  of  the  castles,  were  notable  for 


208 


WOMAN 


their  intelligence,  purity,  and  good  sense,  as  revealed  to 
us  by  the  letters  and  literature  of  the  times.  Their  fea¬ 
tures,  as  depicted  in  illustrations,  give  evidence  of  refine¬ 
ment  and  culture  as  well  as  beauty;  to  these  attractions 
was  added  that  of  graceful  carriage.  Although  their 
dresses  fitted  closely  to  the  figure,  tight  lacing  had  not  yet 
become  the  custom.  Paris  was  then,  as  now,  the  glass  of 
fashion  for  the  women  of  Europe,  and  the  English  woman 
considered  her  form  to  approach  perfection  the  more  nearly 
as  it  conformed  to  the  model  established  in  France.  At 
this  period,  the  ladies  were  given  to  similar  extremes  of 
dress  and  adornment  to  those  which  have  furnished  an 
indictment  against  them  since  fashion  first  held  sway 
over  the  feminine  mind.  All  classes  of  society  were  influ¬ 
enced  by  the  all-important  matter  of  style,  and  the  women 
of  each  grade  of  the  social  scale  found  their  chief  content¬ 
ment  in  copying  the  manners  and  dress  of  those  above 
them.  Earlier  we  found  occasion  to  notice,  in  brief,  the 
sumptuary  legislation  by  which  it  was  sought  to  limit  ex¬ 
travagances  in  fashion;  but  the  laws  have  yet  to  be  framed 
which  can  serve  permanently  to  control  woman’s  desires. 
So  that  we  shall,  perforce,  have  to  continue  our  discussion 
of  the  evolution — or  as  the  moralists  of  the  Middle  Ages 
would  have  expressed  it,  if  they  had  possessed  the  facility 
of  verbal  coinage  which  is  common  enough  with  us,  the 
“devilution  ” — of  woman’s  attire,  just  as  though  law  had 
never  attempted  its  regulation. 

The  intricacies  of  the  women’s  coiffure  were  many. 
The  practice  of  dyeing  the  hair  or  otherwise  altering  its 
color  is  of  ancient  date.  Among  the  Saxons  and  Normans 
it  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  the  men,  for  during 
those  periods  the  women  kept  their  heads  so  completely 
covered  that  there  was  no  inducement  for  them  to  resort 
to  such  practices;  but  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  now 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  209 


treating  the  custom  had  some  vogue  among  the  ladies, 
although  it  does  not  appear  to  have  become  general  until 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when  the  ladies  had  reduced  the 
art  to  such  a  nicety  that  they  were  able  to  produce  various 
colors  and,  indeed,  almost  to  change  the  substance  of  the 
hair  itself: 


“  Lees  she  can  make,  that  turn  a  hair  that’s  old, 

Or  colour’d,  into  a  hue  of  gold.” 

A  religious  writer  of  the  fifteenth  century,  declaiming 
against  the  various  adornments  of  the  hair  and  the  arts 
which  were  employed  to  stimulate  its  growth  as  well  as 
alter  its  color,  and  against  the  practice  of  wearing  false 
hair,  says:  “to  all  these  absurdities,  they  add  that  of  sup¬ 
plying  the  defects  of  their  own  hair,  by  partially  or  totally 
adopting  the  harvest  of  other  heads.”  To  point  a  moral, 
he  then  gravely  relates  an  anecdote  to  the  effect  that 
during  the  time  of  a  public  procession  at  Paris,  which  had 
drawn  a  great  multitude  of  people  together,  an  ape  leaped 
upon  the  head  of  a  certain  fine  lady,  and  seizing  her  veil, 
tore  it  from  her  head;  with  it  came  her  peruke  of  false 
hair,  so  that  it  was  discovered  by  the  crowd  that  her 
beautiful  tresses  were  not  her  own;  thus,  by  the  very 
means  to  which  she  had  resorted  to  attract  the  admiration 
of  the  beholders,  she  received  their  contempt  and  ridicule. 

A  preposterous  form  of  headdress  arose  in  the  time  of 
Henry  IV.  and  became  more  exaggerated  throughout  the 
fifteenth  century;  this  was  styled  the  horned  headdress. 
It  began  with  a  heart-shaped  headdress,  which  rose  higher 
on  either  side  until,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V.,  the  points  of 
the  heart  had  become  veritable  horns.  This  ungraceful 
coiffure  assumed  all  sorts  of  extravagant  and  absurd  vari¬ 
eties.  It  became  a  favorite  mark  for  the  shafts  of  the 
satirists  and  the  jests  of  the  wits,  to  say  nothing  of  themes 


210 


WOMAN 


for  sermons;  but  the  fair  ladies,  invulnerable  to  all  such 
criticisms,  were  not  to  be  deterred  from  indulging  their  pet 
follies.  One  of  the  first  references  to  the  prevailing  style 
was  that  made  by  John  de  Meun  in  his  poem  called  the 
Codical:  “If  I  dare  say  it  without  making  them  [that  is, 
the  ladies]  angry,  I  should  dispraise  their  hosing,  their 
vesture,  their  girding,  their  head-dresses,  their  hoods 
thrown  back  with  their  horns  elevated  and  brought  for¬ 
ward,  as  if  it  were  to  wound  us.  I  know  not  whether 
they  call  them  gallowses  or  brackets,  that  prop  up  the 
horns  which  they  think  are  so  handsome;  but  of  this  I  am 
certain,  that  Saint  Elizabeth  obtained  not  Paradise  by  the 
wearing  of  such  trumpery. ”  But  this  style  of  hair  dress 
was  not  made  by  the  hair  after  all,  but  by  the  wimple, 
which  was  raised  on  either  side  of  the  head  and  supported 
by  a  frame  or  by  pins.  John  de  Meun  flourished  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  had  he  lived  in 
the  fifteenth,  when  the  horned  headdress  par  excellence, 
made  up  of  prongs  of  hair  protruding  forward  from  the 
forehead,  was  in  vogue,  he  would  have  been  still  more 
aghast.  These  horns  were  carefully  constructed  with  the 
aid  of  rolls  of  linen.  Sometimes  they  had  two  long  wings 
on  either  side,  and  received  the  name  of  “butterflies.” 
The  high,  pointed  cap  which  was  worn  was  covered  with 
a  piece  of  fine  lawn,  which  hung  to  the  ground,  and  the 
greater  part  of  which  was  tucked  under  the  wearer’s  arm. 
By  a  writer  of  the  day  we  are  told  that  the  ladies  of  the 
middle  rank  wore  caps  of  cloth  which  consisted  of  several 
breadths  or  bands  twisted  round  the  head,  with  two  wings 
on  each  side  “  like  asses’  ears.”  As  one  wanders  through 
the  mazes  of  description  of  the  hair  dress  of  the  period,  he 
is  prepared  to  agree  with  the  author  to  whom  we  have 
just  referred,  that  “it  is  no  easy  matter  to  give  a  proper 
description  in  writing  of  the  different  fashions  in  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  21 1 


dresses  of  the  ladies”;  and  so  we  shall  submit  the  case 
in  terms  of  still  another  writer’s  description;  Philip  Stubbs 
says:  “  Then  followeth  the  trimming  and  tricking  of  their 
heads,  in  laying  out  their  hair  to  the  show;  which,  of  force, 
must  be  curled,  frizzled,  and  crisped,  laid  out  in  wreaths 
and  borders,  and  from  one  ear  to  another;  and,  lest  it 
should  fall  down,  it  is  underpropped  with  forkes,  wires, 
and  I  cannot  tell  what;  then,  on  the  edges  of  their  bol¬ 
stered  hair,  for  it  standeth  crested  round  about  their  fron¬ 
tiers,  and  hanging  over  their  faces,  like  pendices  or  vailes, 
with  glass  windows  on  every  side,  there  is  laide  great 
wreathes  of  gold  and  silver,  curiously  wrought,  and  cun¬ 
ningly  applied  toe  the  temples  of  their  heads;  and,  for 
feare  of  lacking  anything  to  set  forth  their  pride  withal,  at 
their  hair  thus  wreathed  and  crested,  are  hanged  bugles,  I 
dare  not  say  babies,  ouches,  ringes  of  gold,  silver,  glasses, 
and  such  other  gew-gawes,  which  I,  being  unskillful  in 
woman’s  tearmes,  cannot  easily  recompt.”  He  then  dis¬ 
cusses  the  “capital  ornaments”  upon  the  “toppes  of  these 
stately  turrets,”  which  he  informs  us  consisted  of  a  French 
hood,  hat,  cap,  kerchief,  and  such  like.  He  laments  the 
fact  that  to  such  excesses  did  the  fashions  go,  and  so 
widely  were  the  women  influenced  by  them,  “that  every 
artificer’s  wife  almost  will  not  stike  to  goe  in  her  hat 
of  velvet  every  day;  every  merchant’s  wife,  and  meane 
gentlewoman,  in  their  French  hoods;  and  every  poor  cot¬ 
tager’s  daughter’s  daughter  in  her  taffeta  hat,  or  else  wool 
at  least,  well  lined  with  silk,  velvet,  or  taffeta.”  He  adds 
that  they  had  other  ornaments  for  the  head,  “made  net- 
wise,”  and  which  he  says  he  believes  were  termed 
“cawles,”  the  object  of  this  tinsel  being  to  have  the  head 
with  its  ornaments  glisten  and  shine  like  a  mass  of  gold. 
He  then  dismisses  with  a  word  the  “forked  cappes  ”  and 
“such  like  apish  toyes  of  infinite  variety.” 


212 


WOMAN 


Face  painting,  which  came  in  direct  derivation  from  the 
tattooing  of  the  ancient  Britons,  is  a  practice  that  at 
the  time  of  which  we  are  writing  was  very  prevalent  in 
England.  It  came  under  as  vigorous  arraignment  by  the 
writers  of  the  fifteenth  century  as  did  the  ridiculous  forms 
of  hair  dress.  The  cosmetics  in  use  were  of  many  sorts, 
and  were  usually  injurious  to  the  skin  of  the  user. 

The  dress  of  the  women  also  fell  under  censure  and 
satire,  although  that  of  the  men  was  even  more  strongly 
reprobated  by  contemporary  writers.  It  does  not  do  to 
accept  too  readily  the  strictures  passed  upon  the  dress  of 
any  age  without  considering  the  source  of  the  criticism. 
Throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  the  clergy  found  dress  a  con¬ 
venient  topic  for  their  moralizing,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  strictures  were  often  excessive,  although  the 
activity  with  which  the  matter  was  discussed  indicates 
the  importance  in  which  it  then  was  held  and  also  makes 
it  an  important  subject  for  our  investigation  as  a  deter¬ 
mining  element  in  the  study  of  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  period  as  they  relate  to  woman  and  reveal  her  to  us. 

The  great  variety  of  fabrics,  many  of  them  imported, 
which  were  in  use  enabled  women  to  make  a  wide  choice 
in  the  selection  of  material  for  their  clothing,  while  it  also 
afforded  the  women  of  the  lower  orders  an  opportunity  for 
almost  as  varied  a  display  as  was  made  by  those  in  higher 
ranks.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  who  revived  the  sumpt¬ 
uary  legislation  of  the  kingdom  with  regard  to  dress, 
Thomas  Occliff,  the  poet,  in  rebuking  the  extravagances 
of  the  times,  speaks  of  those  who  walked  about  in  gowns 
of  scarlet  twelve  yards  wide,  with  sleeves  reaching  to  the 
ground  and  lined  with  fur,  of  value  beyond  twenty  pounds, 
and  who,  if  they  had  been  required  to  pay  for  what  they 
wore,  would  not  have  been  able  to  buy  enough  fur  to  line 
a  hood;  and  he  adds  that  the  tailors  must  soon  shape  their 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  21 3 


garments  in  the  open  field  for  lack  of  room  to  cut  them  in 
their  houses.  He  mourns  chiefly  the  extravagance  of  dress 
on  the  part  of  the  wealthy,  because  “a  nobleman  cannot 
adopt  a  new  guise,  or  fashion,  but  that  a  knave  will  follow 
his  example. ” 

After  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  ladies 
ceased  to  wear  the  long  trains  which  they  had  formerly 
affected,  and  substituted  excessively  wide  borders  of  fur 
or  velvet.  By  the  end  of  the  century,  the  dress  of  the  two 
sexes  was  so  nearly  alike  that  it  was  difficult  to  distinguish 
between  them.  The  men  wore  skirts  over  their  lower 
clothing,  their  doublets  were  laced  in  front  like  a  woman’s 
stays,  and  their  gowns  were  open  in  the  front  to  the  girdle 
and  again  from  the  girdle  to  the  ground,  where  they  trailed 
slightly.  At  first,  the  ladies  imitated  the  men,  who  wore 
greatly  padded  trunks,  by  extending  their  garments  from 
the  hips  with  foxes’  tails  and  “bum  rolls,”  as  they  were 
called;  but  as  they  could  not  hope  to  keep  pace  with  the 
vast  protuberance  of  the  men’s  trunks,  they  introduced 
the  farthingales,  which  enabled  them  to  appear  as  large 
as  they  pleased. 

Such  were  the  manners  and  styles  of  the  period  with 
which  the  Middle  Ages  closed  and  the  modern  era  began. 
They  were  not  markedly  different  from  those  of  the  later 
Middle  Ages  generally,  but  that  was  because  fundamental 
changes  in  society  do  not  find  their  first  expression  in 
matters  which  are  superficial.  The  great  revolution  which 
had  been  going  on  in  the  basic  forms  of  society,  through 
peaceful  processes  as  well  as  social  upheavals  and  the 
prowess  of  arms,  had  its  reflux  more  in  the  morals  than  in 
the  manners  of  the  age.  Nevertheless,  one  cannot  pursue 
the  theme  of  custom  and  manners  throughout  the  mediae¬ 
val  period  without  being  conscious  of  a  progress  or  develop¬ 
ment  significant  of  more  than  mere  caprice.  This,  in  fact, 


214 


WOMAN 


was  the  case.  Any  philosophic  treatment  of  English 
society  during  the  Middle  Ages  would  have  to  take  cogni¬ 
zance  of  manners  and  customs  as  indices  of  the  growth  of 
political,  constitutional,  and  religious  principles;  and  in 
this  growth  would  appear  the  consistently  developing 
status  of  woman. 

While  it  is  difficult  to  fix  upon  any  one  fact  as  com¬ 
prehending  the  condition  of  women  in  English  society  at 
the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  beginning  of  the 
new  era,  there  is  one  which  challenges  attention.  In 
reaping  the  harvest  of  the  narrow  and  bigoted  times 
through  which  she  passed,  woman  found  herself  possessed 
of  one  sort  of  fruitage,  namely,  public  rights.  The  essen¬ 
tial  equality  of  the  woman  and  the  man,  which  first 
appeared  in  the  castle,  had  become  a  general  fact  of  Eng¬ 
lish  society.  Feudalism  and  its  vassalage  of  the  female 
sex  had  disappeared,  and  the  women  of  the  industrial 
classes,  whatever  their  economic  condition,  became  sov¬ 
ereigns  of  themselves.  The  women  of  the  towns,  largely 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  guilds,  had  established 
precedents  which  marked  the  path  of  their  progress  as 
“  persons”  before  the  law.  Associated  industry  drew 
them  out  of  their  homes,  or  at  least  out  of  the  limited 
sphere  of  home  life,  and  placed  in  their  hands  the  loom 
and  the  spindle  of  the  world’s  industry.  “The  candle” 
of  the  goodwife  “that  went  not  out  by  night”  no  longer 
burned  for  the  provident  industry  of  household  needs,  but 
became  a  veritable  torch  to  illumine  the  paths  of  England’s 
commerce  and  to  add  to  that  glory  of  civilization  which 
constitutes  her  commercial  greatness. 

Out  of  the  whole  body  of  womankind,  the  Church  had 
chosen  to  select  a  class  of  women  who  were  dedicated 
to  its  service  and  who  taught  by  their  acts  the  respon¬ 
sibility  of  the  prosperous  toward  their  needy  brethren; 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD 


215 


while  this  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  benefit  to 
women  generally,  but  simply  a  training  in  charity  for  the 
classes  who  were  consecrated  to  that  object,  nevertheless 
the  influence  of  these  chosen  women  upon  their  sex,  in 
awakening  their  keener  sensibilities  toward  poverty  and 
distress,  aided  in  placing  upon  the  brow  of  woman  the 
queenly  crown  of  compassion  which  has  made  her  so 
largely  a  ministering  force  in  modern  society. 

The  elegance  and  refinement  of  the  women  of  the 
manors,  as  well  as  the  stability  and  resourcefulness  of 
the  wives  of  the  wealthy  burghers,  already  gave  indication 
of  the  development  of  the  splendid  type  of  modern  English 
society  known  as  the  country  gentry  and  the  no  less 
admirable  class  of  the  English  tradespeople.  Indeed,  the 
evolution  of  the  middle  class  as  a  conservative  force  is  one 
of  the  greatest  factors  to  be  considered  in  mediaeval  study. 
“Blue  blood,”  once  regarded  as  a  peculiar  strain  of  vital 
fluid  by  which,  through  some  mysterious  means,  the 
upper  stratum  of  society  was  marked  off  from  the  lower, 
came  to  be  detected  in  the  veins  of  those  whose  only 
pedigree  was  poverty  and  whose  only  claim  upon  the  con¬ 
sideration  and  respect  of  their  fellows  was  real  worth  of 
character.  An  aristocracy  which  could  be  repleted  from 
the  plebeian  ranks  of  the  middle  classes  of  society,  upon 
whose  members  titles  were  bestowed,  not  because  of  their 
readiness  to  respond  to  the  needs  of  the  privy  purse  of  a 
monarch,  but  because  they  had  assumed  leading  and  im¬ 
portant  positions  in  relation  to  England’s  honor  and  power, 
was  an  aristocracy  that  did  not  become  archaic  or  degen¬ 
erate.  The  equality  of  opportunity,  which  is  the  pride 
and  promise  of  modern  society,  had  its  beginnings  in  those 
early  days  when  the  gate  of  emergence  from  lower  class 
conditions  was  so  seldom  opened  for  anyone  to  pass  out  to 
where  the  ascent  of  Parnassus  might  quicken  his  ambition. 


2l6 


WOMAN 


Long  after  feudalism  had  ceased,  however,  it  was  diffi¬ 
cult  to  disabuse  the  minds  of  people  of  the  idea  that  the 
blood  which  flowed  in  the  veins  of  a  gentleman  was  differ¬ 
ent  from  that  of  a  peasant  or  a  burgher.  It  is  curious  to 
note  one  of  the  legendary  explanations  of  the  division  of 
blood  as  given  by  Alexander  Barclay,  a  poet  of  the  reign 
of  Henry  VII.  According  to  his  story,  while  Adam  was 
occupied  with  his  agricultural  labors,  Eve  sat  at  home 
with  her  children  about  her,  when  she  suddenly  became 
aware  of  the  approach  of  the  Creator,  and  ashamed  of  the 
number  of  her  children,  she  hurriedly  concealed  those 
which  were  less  favored  in  appearance.  Some  she  placed 
under  hay,  some  under  straw  and  chaff,  some  in  the 
chimney,  and  some  in  a  tub  of  draff;  but  such  as  were 
fair  and  comely  she  kept  with  her.  The  Lord  told  her 
that  He  had  come  to  see  her  children,  that  He  might  pro¬ 
mote  them  in  their  different  degrees.  When  she  presented 
them,  according  to  age,  one  was  ordained  to  be  a  king, 
another  a  duke,  and  so  on  through  the  list  of  high  dignities. 
The  maternal  solicitude  of  Eve  made  her  unwilling  that 
the  concealed  children  should  miss  all  the  honors,  and  she 
brought  them  forth  from  their  hiding  places.  Their  rough 
and  unkempt  appearance,  which  was  due  to  the  nature  of 
their  places  of  concealment,  added  to  their  unprepossess¬ 
ing  personalities,  disgusted  the  Lord  with  them.  “None,” 
He  said,  “can  make  a  vessel  of  silver  out  of  an  earthen 
pitcher,  or  goodly  silk  out  of  a  goat’s  fleece,  or  a  bright 
sword  out  of  a  cow’s  tail;  neither  will  I,  though  I  can,  make 
a  noble  gentleman  out  of  a  vile  villain.  You  shall  all  be 
ploughmen  and  tillers  of  the  ground,  to  keep  oxen  and 
hogs,  to  dig  and  delve,  and  hedge  and  dike,  and  in  this 
wise  shall  ye  live  in  endless  servitude.  Even  the  towns¬ 
men  shall  laugh  you  to  scorn;  yet  some  of  you  shall  be 
allowed  to  dwell  in  cities,  and  shall  be  admitted  to  such 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD  21 7 


occupations  as  those  of  makers  of  puddings,  butchers, 
cobblers,  tinkers,  costard-mongers,  hostlers,  or  daubers. ” 
This,  so  the  story  informs  us,  was  the  beginning  of  servile 
labor;  and  such  a  view  of  caste  was  no  more  displeasing 
to  the  peasantry,  who  knew  nothing  better,  than  it  was  to 
the  baron,  whose  pride  it  pampered. 

A  poem  of  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  gives 
the  wishes  appropriate  to  the  men  and  women  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  ranks  of  French  society.  Those  of  the  women  are 
most  characteristic.  Thus,  the  queen  wishes  to  love  God 
and  the  king,  and  to  live  in  peace;  the  duchess,  to  have 
all  the  enjoyments  and  pleasures  of  wealth;  the  countess, 
to  have  a  husband  who  is  loyal  and  brave;  the  knight’s 
lady,  to  hunt  the  stag  in  the  green  woods;  the  lady  of 
gentle  blood  also  loves  hunting,  and  wishes  for  a  husband 
valiant  in  war;  the  chamber  maiden  takes  pleasure  in 
walking  in  the  fair  fields  by  the  riversides;  while  the 
burgher’s  wife  loves,  above  all  things,  a  soft  bed  at  night, 
with  a  good  pillow  and  clean  white  sheets.  This  state¬ 
ment  of  the  characteristic  desires  of  the  various  classes  of 
French  women  holds  good  as  well  for  the  English  women 
of  that  period. 

The  court  of  Burgundy,  which,  during  the  fifteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  was  notable  for  its  pomp  and  magnificence  and  its 
ostentatious  display  of  wealth,  was  regarded  as  furnishing 
the  models  of  high  courtesy  and  gentle  breeding;  and  it 
was  the  centre  of  literature  and  art.  Circumstances  had 
brought  the  court  of  England  into  intimate  connection  with 
it,  so  that  England  was  more  affected  by  Burgundy  than 
by  any  other  part  of  Europe.  The  social  character  in  Eng¬ 
land  and  France,  which,  to  some  extent,  had  followed 
parellel  lines  since  the  Norman  conquest,  now  began  to 
diverge  widely.  The  breakdown  of  feudalism  in  England, 
where  it  had  never  been  so  fully  developed  as  in  France, 


218 


WOMAN 


was  not  contemporaneous  with  French  conditions  in  this 
respect.  Consequently,  in  the  latter  country,  the  chasm 
between  the  lower  and  the  upper  strata  of  society  grew 
ever  wider,  the  lower  classes  becoming  more  and  more 
miserable,  and  the  upper  more  immoral.  In  England,  as 
we  have  seen,  serfdom  disappeared,  or  existed  in  name 
only,  and  the  relation  between  the  country  gentry  and  the 
peasants  became  increasingly  intimate  and  kindly.  The 
growth  of  commerce  had  spread  wealth  among  the  middle 
classes  and  had  added  much  to  their  social  comfort. 
Although  social  manners  were  still  very  coarse,  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  religious  reformers,  such  as  the  Lollards,  was  being 
felt  in  an  improvement  in  the  moral  tone  of  the  middle  and 
lower  classes  of  society.  Moreover,  the  discussion  of  great 
social  questions  had  become  general  among  the  people. 
Even  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  cele¬ 
brated  poem  of  Piers  Plowman  took  up  such  discussions, 
and  one  of  the  tenets  of  the  Lollards  was  the  natural 
equality  of  man.  In  England,  conditions  were  ripe  for  the 
advent  of  a  new  era,  and  in  the  fulness  of  time  there  came 
forth  the  spirit  of  new  learning,  of  new  industry,  of  explo¬ 
ration,  of  investigation,  and  of  religious  freedom,  to  lead 
the  English  people  into  the  inheritance  for  which  they  had 
been  prepared  by  those  centuries  over  a  part  of  which 
hung  such  a  pall  as  to  secure  for  them  the  title  of  the 
Dark  Ages. 


©Ijapter  X 

SHomen  of  tlje  CuUor  praoti 


X 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 

AS  the  year  has  its  seasons,  marked  by  alternations  of 
active  growth  and  recuperation  for  new  development,  so 
likewise  has  history.  If  the  Middle  Ages  were  a  time  of 
comparative  dearth  as  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  modern 
era,  certainly  there  was  ample  vitality  hidden  in  the  quiet 
forms  and  the  mechanical  fixity  of  the  period.  The  season 
of  vernal  glory  for  England,  which  opened  with  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.  and  found  its  climax  in  that  of  Elizabeth, 
was  glorious  because  the  beauty  and  brilliancy  which  char¬ 
acterized  it  were  due  to  the  splendid  utilities  which  were 
passed  on  to  it  from  the  Middle  Ages.  Art,  literature,  and 
the  pleasant  pastimes  of  leisure — the  affluence  of  prosper¬ 
ity — are  the  efflorescence  of  a  people’s  history,  though  the 
absence  of  these  graces  and  privileges  of  life  may  not 
mean  a  dearth  in  any  profound  sense,  for  it  may  be  that 
their  absence  but  indicates  a  lack  of  favoring  conditions 
for  the  root  stock  to  put  forth  foliage  and  flower.  The 
simple  form  of  social  life  which  obtained  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  as  contrasted  with  the  brilliancy  of  intellect  and  the 
breadth  of  view  of  the  modern  era,  does  not  denote  any 
important  difference  in  the  character  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  English  people,  any  more  than  it  can  be  said  of  the 
fallow  land  not  under  cultivation  that  it  has  less  produc¬ 
tivity  than  the  fields  which  by  the  waving  grain  give 
evidence  of  their  fertile  worth. 


221 


222 


WOMAN 


The  easy  acceptance  in  modern  times  of  the  benefits  of 
inventions  which  greatly  broaden  the  scope  of  living  and 
add  immeasurably  to  its  comfort  shows  how  readily  people 
adjust  themselves  to  advances  in  the  conditions  of  life. 
So  that  which  we  look  upon  as  an  era  was  not  so  consid¬ 
ered  by  the  people  who  witnessed  the  stimulus  which  we 
regard  as  the  beginning  of  all  modern  intellectual  and 
social  life.  For  this  reason,  we  need  not  expect  to  dis¬ 
cover  in  the  women  of  the  early  modern  period  any  radi¬ 
cal  difference  from  their  sisters  of  preceding  generations; 
but  we  shall  find  that,  with  the  change  of  environment 
and  the  coming  of  a  better  state  of  life  in  general,  woman¬ 
kind  was  gradually  and  insensibly  affected  in  ways  of 
permanent  improvement.  The  opening  up  of  new  ave¬ 
nues  of  human  interest  and  the  enlargement  of  old  ones 
increased  the  sphere  of  woman’s  life  and  influence;  yet 
had  it  not  been  for  the  status  she  had  achieved  already, 
she  would  no  more  have  entered  prominently  into  the 
blessings  and  privileges  of  the  new  era  than  did  the  women 
of  Greece  generally  benefit  by  the  Golden  Age  of  Pericles. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
modern  era  population  was  increasing  so  slowly  as  to  be 
practically  stationary,  and,  indeed,  for  generations  past 
there  had  been  no  appreciable  increase.  Even  after  the 
favorable  conditions  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  became 
general,  population  made  comparatively  slow  progress. 
Families  were  not  so  numerous,  or  the  number  of  their 
members  so  great,  as  compared  with  to-day.  It  was  an 
exception  for  a  laborer  to  maintain  his  family  in  a  cottage 
to  themselves.  Farm  work  was  commonly  done  under  the 
superintendence  of  country  esquires,  and  the  laborers  lived 
in  the  paternal  cottage  and  remained  single,  marrying  only 
when  by  their  providence  they  had  managed  to  save 
enough  to  enable  them  to  enter  upon  some  other  career. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


223 


The  competition  of  other  countries,  notably  France,  with 
the  industries  of  England  proved  disastrous  to  many  forms 
of  England’s  industrial  activities;  and  to  the  introduction 
into  the  kingdom  of  a  number  of  wares  and  merchandise 
of  foreign  make  was  attributed  the  great  number  of  idle 
people  throughout  the  realm.  To  counteract  this  condi¬ 
tion,  Henry  issued  statutes  for  the  encouragement  of  manu¬ 
facturing.  One  of  these  aimed  to  stimulate  the  linen 
industry.  In  order  that  the  men  and  women  living  in 
idleness,  which  was  styled  “that  most  abominable  sin,” 
might  have  profitable  employment,  it  was  ordained  and 
enacted  that  every  person  should  sow  one-quarter  of  an 
acre  in  flax  or  hemp  for  every  sixty  acres  he  might  have 
under  cultivation.  The  immediate  purpose  of  the  act  was 
to  keep  the  wives  and  children  of  the  poor  at  work  in  their 
own  houses,  but  it  also  indicated  that  the  condition  of 
manufactures  in  England  was  not  such  as  to  encourage  an 
enlarging  population. 

The  condition  of  the  laboring  classes  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  was  not  such  as  to  excite  general  dissatisfac¬ 
tion;  indeed,  there  are  evidences  of  a  general  state  of 
contentment  among  the  people.  The  laws  for  the  encour¬ 
agement  of  trade  and  the  sumptuary  legislation  for  the 
regulation  of  wages  and  prices  were  economic  measures 
which  may  not  stand  the  test  of  examination  according  to 
modern  ideas,  but  which  nevertheless  tended,  on  the 
whole,  to  benefit  those  in  whose  behalf  they  were  made. 
Industry  was  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  idleness  was  the 
most  abhorrent  of  vices.  Men,  women,  and  children, 
alike,  were  to  be  trained  in  some  craft  or  other,  to  prevent 
their  becoming  public  charges.  The  children  of  parents 
who  could  afford  the  fees  which  were  exacted  for  appren¬ 
ticeship  were  set  to  learn  trades,  and  the  rest  were  bound 
out  to  agriculture;  and  if  the  parents  failed  to  see  to 


224 


WOMAN 


it  that  their  children  were  started  out  in  a  career  of  labor, 
the  mayors  or  magistrates  had  authority  to  apprentice 
such  children,  so  that  when  they  grew  up  they  might  not 
be  driven  to  dishonest  courses  by  want  or  incapacity. 

Throughout  the  sixteenth  century,  all  classes  of  society 
appear  to  have  had  a  reasonable  degree  of  prosperity,  ac¬ 
cording  to  their  several  needs  and  stations.  The  country 
gentlemen  lived  upon  their  landed  estates,  surrounded  by 
those  evidences  of  solid  comfort  which  give  attractiveness 
to  such  life.  The  income  of  the  squire  was  sufficient  to 
afford  a  moderate  abundance  for  himself  and  his  family, 
and  between  him  and  the  commons  there  was  not  a  wide 
difference  in  this  respect.  Among  all  classes  of  the  people 
there  was  a  spirit  of  liberality,  open  and  free;  the  practi¬ 
cality  of  the  age  was  not  inaccordant  with  generous  hospi¬ 
tality.  To  every  man  who  asked  it,  there  were  free  fare 
and  free  lodging,  and  he  might  be  sure  of  a  bountiful  board 
of  wholesome  food.  Bread,  beef,  and  beer  for  dinner,  and 
a  mat  of  rushes  in  an  unoccupied  corner  of  the  hall,  with  a 
billet  of  wood  for  a  headrest,  did  not  constitute  luxurious 
entertainment,  but  were  regarded  as  elements  of  real  com¬ 
fort.  Nor  was  the  generous  hospitality  proffered  to  stran¬ 
gers  often  abused;  the  statutes  of  the  times  kept  suspicious 
characters  under  such  close  notice,  and  were  so  repressive 
of  predatory  and  vicious  instincts,  that  there  was  little 
occasion  for  alarm  such  as  is  felt  by  the  modern  housewife 
in  country  districts  along  much-travelled  roads.  The  hour 
of  rising,  both  summer  and  winter,  was  four  o’clock; 
breakfast  was  served  at  five,  after  which  the  laborers 
went  to  their  work  and  the  gentlemen  to  their  business. 
Life  lacked  much  of  modern  refinement,  although  it  made 
up  for  this  lack  in  wholesomeness  and  heartiness.  The 
large  number  of  beggars  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  was 
due  in  part  to  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  and  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


225 


drying  up  of  those  springs  of  charity,  and  the  open-handed 
hospitality  which  had  encouraged  begging  while  relieving 
distress.  Upon  the  assumption  that  there  was  no  excuse 
for  an  able-bodied  vagrant,  the  penalties  imposed  upon 
“sturdy  beggars”  were  severe.  Such,  in  brief,  was  the 
state  of  English  society  at  the  beginning  of  the  modern  era. 

The  influence  of  the  Church  was  on  the  wane  before  the 
rupture  with  the  papacy  was  brought  about  by  Henry  VIII., 
and  the  laity  were  beginning  to  assume  the  positions,  lib¬ 
erties,  and  privileges  which  had  appertained  to  the  clergy 
as  the  one  scholarly  and  dominant  class  of  the  kingdom. 
Under  the  new  conditions  of  liberty  in  which  we  find 
woman,  there  was  no  room  for  the  continuance  of  even 
the  forms  of  chivalry.  Idealized  woman  no  longer  existed; 
she  had  become  practical.  Having  sought  a  position  of 
public  activity,  she  had  been  recognized  as  possessing  the 
private  rights  of  an  individual  of  the  same  nature  and  of 
similar  status  as  man.  It  was  no  longer  needful  to  go  to 
the  convent  to  find  the  religious  or  intellectual  types  of  * 
womankind,  for  religion,  benevolence,  and  literature  were 
no  longer  identified  only  with  the  cloister.  However  dis¬ 
astrous  was  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  to  the  little 
bands  of  women  who  wore  the  habit  of  the  religieuse, 
women  in  general  did  not  feel  the  upheaval  nearly  so 
much  as  they  did  the  other  social  changes,  which  were 
not  so  radical,  but  were  very  much  more  influential  in 
their  relation  to  the  destiny  of  the  sex  as  a  whole. 

Although  manners  were  very  free,  and  nowhere  more 
so  than  among  persons  of  the  higher  orders  of  society, 
such  coarseness  is  not  the  true  criterion  by  which  to  gauge 
the  women  of  the  day.  Even  if  they  did  not  hesitate  to 
use  profanity,  were  adepts  at  coquetry  of  an  undisguised 
type,  and  were  guilty  of  conduct  which  merited  more  than 
the  term  “  indiscreet,”  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  they 


226 


WOMAN 


were  creatures  of  their  times.  While  English  society  was 
noted  for  its  rudeness  and  coarseness,  it  was  saved  from 
much  of  the  effeminacy  which  poisoned  the  life  of  its 
neighbors  on  the  continent.  The  sixteenth  century  took 
a  more  generous,  complimentary,  and  true  view  of  woman¬ 
kind.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  she  suffered  from  the  exagger¬ 
ated  praise  of  the  knight  and  the  troubadour  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  from  the  contempt  and  contumely 
of  the  ecclesiastic.  From  this  equivocal  position  of  being 
at  the  same  time  an  angel  and  a  devil  she  was  rescued  by 
the  sanity  and  sincerity  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  was 
placed  in  her  true  position  as  a  woman,  possessed  of  es¬ 
sentially  the  same  characteristics  as  men,  worthy  of  like 
honor,  and  making  appeal  for  no  special  consideration  ex¬ 
cepting  that  which  her  sex  evoked  instinctively  from  men. 
The  modern  idea  had  begun  to  prevail,  and  woman  was  no 
longer  either  worshipped  or  shunned,  but  was  welcomed 
as  a  sharer  of  the  common  burdens  and  joys  of  life.  To 
continental  observers  it  was  marvellous  that  the  English 
woman  should  have  the  large  amount  of  liberty  that  she 
enjoyed;  and  Europeans  not  understanding  the  English 
point  of  view  were  apt  to  construe  such  liberty  as  bold¬ 
ness.  Thus,  one  writer  from  abroad  is  found  comment¬ 
ing  upon  the  sixteenth-century  English  woman  as  follows: 
“  The  women  have  much  more  liberty  than  perhaps  in  any 
other  place;  they  also  know  well  how  to  make  use  of  it;  for 
they  go  dressed  out  in  exceedingly  fine  clothes,  and  give 
all  their  attention  to  their  ruffs  and  stuffs  to  such  a  degree 
indeed  that,  as  I  am  informed,  many  a  one  does  not  hesi¬ 
tate  to  wear  velvet  in  the  streets,  which  is  common  with 
them,  whilst  at  home  perhaps  they  have  not  a  piece  of 
dry  bread.” 

Elizabeth  Lamond’s  Discourse  of  the  Commonweal  recites 
that  there  was  more  employment  for  the  men  and  women 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD  227 

of  the  towns  and  cities  when  the  wants  of  people  were 
more  modest.  The  population  of  London,  despite  the  at¬ 
tempts  made  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  prevent  the  influx  of 
foreigners  and  persons  from  the  rural  districts,  increased 
rapidly  during  her  reign.  On  coming  into  the  city,  the 
rustics  soon  wasted  their  small  savings  in  the  rioting  and 
revels  which  characterized  the  rough  life  of  the  metropolis. 
Drinking,  gambling,  and  all  forms  of  license  enticed  the 
husband  from  his  home  and  destroyed  the  domestic  felicity 
which  had  been  the  characteristic  of  country  living. 
Country  and  town  life  were  still  widely  separated  by  bad 
roads  and  poor  means  of  conveyance.  The  wives  even  of 
the  gentry  knew,  as  a  rule,  nothing  of  city  life,  excepting 
from  the  accounts  which  their  husbands  might  bring  back 
to  them  from  occasional  jaunts  to  the  metropolis;  to  all 
such  accounts  they  listened  with  wide-eyed  wonder. 

The  amusements  of  the  women  of  the  better  sort,  who 
did  not  find  their  entertainment  in  the  vices  of  the  times, 
took  chiefly  the  form  of  spectacles,  to  which  they  readily 
flocked.  It  mattered  little  whether  it  was  a  mask,  a  mir¬ 
acle  play,  a  church  procession  or  a  royal  progress,  a  cock 
fight  or  a  bear  baiting.  The  brutality  of  their  sports  no 
more  affected  their  feelings  than  do  the  revolting  circum¬ 
stances  of  a  bull  fight  shock  the  sensibilities  of  the  women 
of  Spain’s  cultured  circles.  When  any  morning  they  might 
see  the  heads  of  some  unfortunates  stuck  on  pikes  and 
gracing  with  their  gruesome  presence  the  city  gate,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  people  were  not  repelled  by  brutal 
exhibitions  of  a  lesser  sort.  Nor  did  the  forms  of  pun¬ 
ishment  in  use  for  malefactors  of  one  kind  or  another 
tend  to  soften  the  feelings  of  the  women  of  the  time.  It 
was  no  unusual  thing  for  a  woman  convicted  of  being  a 
common  scold  to  be  seen  going  about  the  streets  with  her 
face  behind  an  iron  muzzle  clamped  over  her  mouth,  a 


228 


WOMAN 


subject  for  the  jeers  and  ribald  mirth  of  coarse-minded 
women  no  better  than  herself.  Such  characters  were  also 
taken  to  the  ducking  stool  and  thoroughly  doused  in  the 
water.  The  punishment  of  thieves  by  branding  and  by 
mutilation,  and  the  punishment  meted  out  to  women  whose 
characters,  even  in  that  gross  age,  affronted  public  morals, 
were  of  a  public  nature  and  matters  of  daily  observation. 
Nor  was  any  woman  quite  sure  that  the  gibbet,  from 
which  she  could  at  almost  any  time  see  the  swaying  form 
of  some  unfortunate,  might  not  next  serve  for  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  her  own  husband;  for  the  number  of  capital  offences 
was  large,  and  the  inquiries  of  justice  by  no  means  lenient 
on  the  side  of  the  accused. 

The  destruction  of  the  monasteries  brought  about,  in  a 
large  measure,  the  dissolution  of  the  educational  system 
of  the  realm.  The  sons  of  the  poor  husbandman,  who 
had  been  taught  at  the  convent  schools,  and  then  passed 
on  through  the  universities,  and  thence  had  gradually 
worked  their  way  into  the  professions  of  religion  or  the 
law,  had  the  door  of  opportunity  to  a  higher  station 
closed  to  them.  The  deprivation  was  more  severe  in  the 
case  of  girls,  although  it  did  not  signify  so  much  for  them 
in  relation  to  their  future — unless,  indeed,  it  did  so  by  de¬ 
barring  from  the  profession  of  religion  some  who  might 
have  entered  it.  The  clergy  tried  to  meet  the  educational 
demands  which  were  so  suddenly  thrown  upon  them,  but 
it  was  impossible  for  them  to  afford  educational  facilities 
for  the  youth  of  either  sex  at  schools  without  endowment 
or  adequate  support.  Elizabeth,  with  the  wide  view  and 
the  sagacity  which  she  showed  with  regard  to  all  aspects 
of  her  kingdom,  evinced  her  recognition  of  the  importance 
of  education  by  establishing  one  hundred  free  grammar 
schools,  whose  number  rapidly  increased  during  her  reign. 
In  the  course  of  time,  these  schools  fell  under  the  control 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


229 


of  the  middle  class  and  afforded  education  for  their  sons 
and  daughters.  But  in  England  there  were  certainly  very 
few,  if  any,  women  of  the  middle  class  who  entered  largely 
into  the  benefits  of  the  new  learning  which  came  in  with 
the  Renaissance.  The  study  of  Latin  and  Greek  and  the 
discussion  of  philosophy  and  science  were  confined  to  the 
women  of  the  leisure  classes.  The  English  universities  in 
the  sixteenth  century  were  closed  to  women;  but  such 
lack  was  made  up  by  private  tutors,  women  of  rank  and 
position  thus  having  the  benefit  of  the  brightest  minds  of 
the  age. 

The  great  awakening  of  intellectual  life  in  England,  in 
common  with  the  continental  countries,  showed  itself 
in  activity  in  all  departments  of  thought:  poetry  flourished, 
theology  caught  the  infection  of  the  new  spirit  of  liberty, 
and  the  classics  were  studied  with  avidity  as  the  springs 
of  the  world’s  literature  and  learning.  The  invention  of 
the  printing  press  let  loose  the  floods  of  knowledge,  and 
the  women  of  the  higher  classes  were  caught  in  the  flow 
of  books  and  pamphlets,  and  their  intellects  were  quick¬ 
ened  and  their  characters  formed  by  these  new  sources  of 
inspiration  and  wisdom.  Woman  was  no  longer  designated 
as  the  daughter  of  the  Church,  which  was  formerly  the 
highest  encomium  that  the  condescension  of  the  Church 
could  afford  her.  She  now  stood  on  her  own  independence 
of  character,  possessed  of  an  intellect  and  accorded  the 
freedom  of  its  use. 

The  example  of  the  Virgin  Queen  was  held  up  to  the 
youth  of  England  for  their  imitation.  Elizabeth’s  educa¬ 
tion  had  been  most  zealously  cared  for.  To  her  remark¬ 
able  aptitude  for  learning  she  added  a  studious  disposition. 
At  an  early  age  she  was  an  accomplished  linguist;  the 
sciences  were  familiar  to  her,  she  “understood  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  geography,  architecture,  the  mathematics,  and 


WOMAN 


230 

astronomy. ”  Her  studies,  save  one,  however,  she  re¬ 
garded  rather  in  the  light  of  pastime;  to  the  exception — 
history — she  “ devoted  three  hours  a  day,  and  read  works 
in  all  languages  that  afforded  information  on  the  subject.” 
Thus  was  her  mind  stored  with  the  philosophy  of  history; 
men  and  events  in  their  ever  changing  relations  were  an 
open  book  to  her.  Hence,  when  the  responsibilities  of 
sovereignty  devolved  upon  her  she  was  resourceful  and 
prompt.  Whether  dealing  with  her  ambitious  subjects,  or 
receiving  the  wily  ambassador  of  a  foreign  power,  her 
poise  could  not  be  disturbed. 

With  the  example  and  influence  of  the  Tudor  princesses 
before  them,  the  women  least  needed  the  exhortation  to 
intellectual  attainments.  It  was  said  by  a  foreign  scholar 
who  visited  England  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
that  “the  rich  cause  their  sons  and  daughters  to  learn 
Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  for,  since  this  storm  of  heresy 
has  invaded  the  land,  they  hold  it  useful  to  read  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  in  the  original  tongue.”  With  all  the  profession  of 
knowledge  which  was  assumed  by  the  people  of  this  age, 
there  went  a  great  deal  of  pedantry.  It  became  very  tire¬ 
some  to  listen  to  the  conversations  of  select  bodies  of 
the  devotees  of  the  new  wisdom,  who  had  touched  but  the 
skirts  of  the  garments  of  the  Muses.  The  great  number  of 
literary  coxcombs  and  dilettanti  who  were  scribbling  Latin 
verse  and  propounding  philosophical  theses,  or  pronoun¬ 
cing  upon  new  theological  views,  serves  to  impress  one 
with  the  superficiality  of  the  learning  of  the  day,  so  far  as 
is  concerned  the  great  body  of  its  professed  disciples, 
while  in  contrast  to  these  we  are  led  to  respect  more  pro¬ 
foundly  the  genuine  attainments  of  the  brilliant  group  of 
men  and  women  who  made  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  illustri¬ 
ous  for  its  varied  and  almost  matchless  learning.  In  spite 
of  all  the  pretence  to  learning  on  the  part  of  the  great 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


231 


mass  of  women  who  had  neither  the  taste  nor  the  capacity 
to  drink  deep  at  the  Pyrenean  spring,  it  must  be  said  that 
in  no  other  period  of  English  history  has  there  been  shown 
such  marked  and  general  eagerness  for  knowledge  as  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  nor  has  any  other  period  exhibited 
such  a  galaxy  of  great  women.  The  wide  diffusion  of  a 
love  of  literature  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  literary 
dearth  of  the  preceding  centuries. 

It  was  not,  however,  a  period  of  brilliant  authorship 
among  women.  The  new  learning  had  first  to  be  imbibed 
and  become  a  part  of  the  national  thought  before  it  could 
express  itself  in  literary  products.  Translations  of  the 
classics  and  the  works  of  the  Church  Fathers,  with  liter¬ 
ary  correspondence  and  discussions  in  choice  Latin  prose, 
as  well  as  the  composition  of  distiches  in  the  same  tongue, 
with  occasional  instances  of  adventure  into  Greek  and 
Hebrew  composition,  summed  up  the  literary  labors  of  the 
women  of  the  times.  As  such  matters  possess  little  in¬ 
terest  to  posterity,  not  many  of  these  literary  essays  and 
letters  have  been  preserved;  but  such  as  have  come  down 
to  us  mirror  the  intellect  of  the  women  of  the  age  so  cred¬ 
itably  as  to  invite  comparison  with  the  results  of  modern 
education  for  the  sex. 

Lady  Jane  Grey  may  be  cited  as  one  of  the  women  of 
the  day  who  became  notable  for  learning  and  scholarship. 
Of  her,  Fox  writes:  “  If  her  fortune  had  been  as  good  as 
her  bringing  up,  joined  with  fineness  of  wit,  undoubtedly 
she  might  have  seemed  comparable  not  only  to  the  house 
of  the  Vespasians,  Sempronians,  and  the  mother  of  the 
Gracchi,  yea,  to  any  other  women  besides  that  deserve 
of  high  praise  for  their  singular  learning,  but  also  to  the 
University  men,  who  have  taken  many  degrees  of  the 
Schools.”  The  facility  of  this  noble  lady  in  Greek  com¬ 
position  was  strongly  commended  by  Roger  Ascham. 


232 


WOMAN 


Her  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  cognate  tongues  of  the 
East  and  of  modern  languages  made  her  almost  deserving 
of  the  encomium  which  was  passed  upon  Anna  Maria  van 
Schurman,  a  Dutch  contemporary,  of  whom  it  was  said: 
“If  all  the  languages  of  the  earth  should  cease  to  exist, 
she  herself  would  give  them  birth  anew.,,  The  conver¬ 
sance  of  the  literary  ladies  of  the  sixteenth  century  with 
the  languages  of  the  East,  as  well  as  with  philosophy  and 
theology,  and  the  really  marvellous  attainments  of  some 
of  them  in  these  subjects,  indicate  a  sound  education,  even 
though  an  unserviceable  one. 

Erasmus  warmly  commended  the  Princess  Mary  for  her 
proficiency  in  Latin,  and  in  later  years  she  translated 
Erasmus’s  Paraphrase  of  the  Gospel  of  Saint  John.  Udall, 
Master  of  Eton,  who  wrote  the  preface  to  this  work,  com¬ 
plimented  her  for  her  “over-painful  study  and  labour  of 
writing,”  by  which  she  had  “cast  her  weak  body  in  a 
grievous  and  long  sickness.”  The  literary  attainments 
and  linguistic  versatility  of  Elizabeth  herself,  which  made 
her  a  criterion  for  her  times,  are  well  enough  known  to 
need  no  especial  notice  here.  She  had  the  benefit  of 
instruction  from  Roger  Ascham,  with  whom  she  read  the 
classics,  and  from  Grindal,  under  whom  she  studied  theol¬ 
ogy,  which  was  a  favorite  subject  with  her.  In  Italian, 
Castiglione  was  her  master,  and  Lady  Champernon  was 
her  first  tutor  in  modern  languages.  She  became  familiar 
with  the  works  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  authors  by  hearing 
them  read  to  her  by  Sir  Henry  Savil  and  Sir  John  Fortes- 
cue.  In  this  way  she  became  intimately  acquainted  with 
Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Xenophon,  and  herself  translated  one 
of  the  dialogues  of  the  latter,  besides  rendering  two  ora¬ 
tions  of  Isocrates  from  Greek  into  Latin. 

Among  other  studious  and  accomplished  women  of  the 
times,  Sir  Thomas  More’s  daughters  held  a  high  place. 


/SOJ.ly  & 


fifitt 


-^4 yUy/*tr. VSOJsly  &/*AA,Cts 


■oian 


IIH 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


233 


All  of  them  were  clever  and  applied  themselves  to  ab¬ 
struse  subjects;  but  Margaret,  wife  of  William  Roper,  the 
daughter  who  clung  passionately  to  her  father’s  neck  when 
he  was  being  led  off  to  execution,  was  the  most  brilliant  of 
this  family  of  accomplished  women.  Sir  Anthony  Coke, 
whose  scholarship  gave  him  the  position  of  preceptor  to 
Edward  VI.,  had  the  gratification  of  seeing  his  daughters 
attract  the  attention  of  the  most  celebrated  men  of  the 
nation.  One  of  them  married  Lord  Burleigh,  the  treasurer 
of  the  realm;  another  wedded  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  lord 
keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  becoming  in  time  the  mother  of 
the  famous  Francis  Bacon,  the  celebrated  philosopher; 
and  as  her  second  husband,  the  third  had  Lord  Russell. 

Nothing  delighted  the  brilliant  women  of  the  Elizabethan 
era  so  much  as  to  have  themselves  surrounded  by  great 
writers,  statesmen,  and  other  celebrities.  Stately  mag¬ 
nificence  was  maintained  at  many  of  the  great  houses, 
and  the  presence  of  noted  artists  and  celebrated  authors 
gave  to  such  homes  an  intellectual  atmosphere.  One  of 
the  centres  of  intellectual  thought  and  literary  life  of  her 
time  was  the  home  of  Mary  Sidney,  after  she  had  become 
the  wife  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  and  mistress  of  his 
establishment  at  Wilton.  Around  her  hospitable  board 
gathered  poets,  statesmen,  and  artists,  drawn  there  not  by 
the  rank  of  the  hostess  or  to  satisfy  her  pride  by  their 
presence  and  fame,  but  because  her  cultivated  intellect 
made  her  a  fit  companion  for  the  greatest  intellectual  per¬ 
sonages  of  the  day.  To  have  had  the  honor  of  entertaining, 
as  guests,  Shakespeare  and  Ben  Jonson,  besides  the  lesser 
poets  of  the  time,  and  to  have  been  recognized  by  such  lit¬ 
erati  as  worthy  of  their  serious  consideration  because  of  her 
undoubted  gifts,  not  only  reflected  high  compliment  upon 
the  lady,  but  lasting  credit  upon  her  sex,  and  was  one 
of  the  many  significant  things  of  the  Elizabethan  era  which 


WOMAN 


234 

indicated  how  wide  open  stood  the  door  of  intellectual  prog¬ 
ress  and  equality  of  opportunity  for  the  women  of  modern 
times.  Spenser  celebrated  the  Countess  of  Pembroke  as: 

“The  gentlest  shepherdess  that  liv’d  that  day, 

And  most  resembling  in  shape  and  spirit 
Her  brother  dear.” 

Udall,  the  Master  of  Eton,  speaks  enthusiastically  of  the 
great  number  of  women  in  the  noble  ranks  of  society, 
“not  only  given  to  the  study  of  human  sciences  and 
strange  tongues,  but  also  so  thoroughly  expert  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  that  they  were  able  to  compare  with  the  best 
writers  as  well  in  enditeing  and  penning  of  Godly  and 
fruitful  treatises  to  the  instruction  and  edifying  of  realmes 
in  the  knowledge  of  God,  as  also  in  translating  good  books 
out  of  Latin  or  Greek  into  English  for  the  use  and  com¬ 
modity  of  such  as  are  rude  and  ignorant  of  the  said  tongues. 
It  was  now  no  news  in  England  to  see  young  damsels  in 
noble  houses  and  in  the  courts  of  princes,  instead  of  cards 
and  other  instruments  of  idle  trifling,  to  have  continually 
in  their  hands  either  Psalms,  homilies,  and  other  devout 
meditations,  or  else  Paul’s  Epistles,  or  some  book  of  Holy 
Scripture  matters,  and  as  familiarly  both  to  read  and 
reason  thereof  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  or  Italian  as  in 
English.  It  was  now  a  common  thing  to  see  young  virgins 
so  trained  in  the  study  of  good  letters  that  they  willingly 
set  all  other  vain  pastimes  at  nought  for  learning’s  sake. 
It  was  now  no  news  at  all  to  see  Queens  and  ladies  of 
most  high  estate  and  progeny,  instead  of  courtly  dalliance, 
to  embrace  virtuous  exercises  of  reading  and  writing,  and 
with  most  earnest  study  both  early  and  late  to  apply 
themselves  to  the  acquiring  of  knowledge,  as  well  in  all 
other  liberal  artes  and  disciplines,  as  also  most  especially 
of  God  and  His  holy  word.” 


uumm 


m 


mam 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


235 


The  doubts  as  to  the  utility  of  higher  education  for 
women  in  general  which  trouble  some  minds  at  the 
present  day  were  not  altogether  unknown  in  the  age  of 
Elizabeth.  Ecclesiastics  especially,  even  the  more  liberal, 
were  most  prone  to  entertain  doubts  as  to  the  advisability 
of  permitting  women  to  have  a  free  range  through  the 
avenues  of  knowledge.  It  is  probable  that  the  middle 
classes,  to  whom  the  opportunities  of  education  were  not 
so  general,  felt  the  value  of  schools  too  highly  to  speculate 
upon  the  utility  of  that  which  was  not  readily  within  their 
grasp.  Richard  Mulcaster,  who  was  the  master  of  a  school 
founded  by  the  Merchant  Taylors  Company  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Lawrence,  Pultney,  says:  “  We  see  young  maidens 
be  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  can  do  both  with  praise; 
we  have  them  sing  and  playe:  and  both  passing  well,  we 
know  that  they  learne  the  best  and  finest  of  our  learned 
languages,  to  the  admiration  of  all  men.  For  the  daiely 
spoken  tongues  and  of  best  reputation  in  our  time  who 
so  shall  deny  that  they  may  not  compare  even  with  our 
kinde  even  in  the  best  degree  .  .  .  Nay,  do  we  not  see 
in  our  country  some  of  that  sex  so  excellently  well  trained 
and  so  rarely  qualified  either  for  the  tongues  themselves  or 
for  the  matter  in  the  tongues:  as  they  may  be  opposed  by 
way  of  comparison,  if  not  preferred  as  beyond  comparison, 
even  to  the  best  Romaine  or  Greekish  paragones,  be  they 
never  so  much  praised  to  the  Germaine  or  French  gentle- 
wymen  by  late  writers  so  well  liked:  to  the  Italian  ladies 
who  dare  write  themselves  and  deserve  fame  for  so 
doing?  ...  I  dare  be  bould,  therefore,  to  admit  young 
maidens  to  learne,  seeing  my  countrie  gives  me  leave  and 
her  costume  standes  for  me.  .  .  .  Some  Rimon  will 

say,  what  should  wymend  with  learning?  Such  a  churlish 
carper  will  never  picke  out  the  best,  but  be  alway  ready 
to  blame  the  worst.  If  all  men  used  all  pointes  of  learning 


236 


WOMAN 


well,  we  had  some  reason  to  alledge  against  wymend,  but 
seeing  misuse  is  commonly  both  the  kinds,  why  blame  we 
their  infirmitie  whence  we  free  not  ourselves. ”  He  then 
contends  that  a  young  gentlewoman  who  can  write  well 
and  swiftly,  sing  clearly  and  sweetly,  play  well  and  finely, 
and  employ  readily  the  learned  languages  with  some 
“  logicall  helpe  to  chop  and  some  rhetoricke  to  brave,”  is 
well  furnished,  and  that  such  a  one  is  not  likely  to  bring 
up  her  children  a  whit  the  worse,  even  if  she  becomes  a 
Loelia,  a  Hortensia,  or  a  Cornelia.  In  discussing  whether 
or  not  girls  should  be  taught  by  their  own  sex,  he  inclines 
to  the  belief  that  this  practice  were  advisable,  but  that 
discreet  men  might  teach  girls  to  advantage.  To  use  his 
own  words:  “In  teachers,  their  owne  sex  were  fittest  in 
some  respects,  but  ours  frame  them  best,  and,  with  good 
regard  to  some  circumstances,  will  bring  them  up  ex¬ 
cellently  well.”  In  the  higher  circles,  where  cynicism 
frequently  assumes  the  forms  of  wisdom,  it  was  not 
universally  agreed  that  women  should  have  the  widest 
opportunities  of  education.  In  one  of  his  discourses, 
Erasmus,  possibly  the  most  accomplished  of  the  school¬ 
men  of  the  time,  opens  to  our  view  the  opinion  of  the 
Church  as  to  female  scholarship  when  he  represents  an 
abbot  as  contending  that  if  women  were  learned  they 
could  not  be  kept  under  subjection,  “therefore  it  is  a 
wicked,  mischievous  thing  to  revive  the  ancient  custom  of 
educating  them.”  A  remark  in  one  of  Erasmus’s  letters 
lays  him  open  to  the  suspicion  of  sharing  somewhat  in 
this  view,  for,  in  his  description  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  he 
speaks  of  him  as  wise  with  the  wise,  and  jesting  with 
fools — “with  women  especially,  and  his  own  wife  among 
them.” 

Besides  the  graver  matters  of  study  which  claimed  their 
attention,  the  women  of  England  were  devoted  to  music, 


■ 


a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


237 


needlework,  and  dancing,  which  were  the  favorite  fashion¬ 
able  pastimes.  Erasmus  speaks  of  them  as  the  most  accom¬ 
plished  in  musical  skill  of  any  people.  Early  as  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.,  to  read  music  at  sight  was  not  an  uncommon 
accomplishment,  while  those  who  aspired  to  the  technique 
of  the  subject  were  students  of  counterpoint.  Musical 
literature  was  scanty;  the  principal  instruments  were  the 
lute,  the  mandolin,  the  clavichord,  and  the  virginals. 

Notwithstanding  its  literary  flavor  and  its  identity  with 
the  great  themes  of  modern  knowledge,  the  age  of  Eliza¬ 
beth  can  hardly  be  called  a  serious  one  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  spirit  and  manners  of  the  people.  Amusement 
was  sought  for  its  own  sake,  without  regard  to  its  character 
or  quality.  The  spirit  of  enjoyment  was  hearty  and  un¬ 
restrained,  and  lacked  discrimination  and  refinement.  The 
society  of  the  age,  like  its  culture,  was  a  reflex  of  the 
personality  of  the  powerful  queen,  who  stamped  her  char¬ 
acter  and  her  tastes  upon  her  people.  The  queen,  as  well 
as  her  courtiers,  could  restrain  herself  upon  occasion;  but 
neither  she  nor  her  subjects  felt  that  there  was  any  moral 
or  conventional  need  to  place  a  check  upon  the  expression 
of  their  emotions,  and  in  consequence  their  manners  were 
often  unbecoming.  It  did  not  offend  the  sense  of  personal 
dignity  of  Elizabeth  to  spit  at  a  courtier,  the  cut  or  color 
of  whose  coat  displeased  her,  just  as  she  might  box  his 
ears  or  rap  out  at  him  a  flood  of  profanity.  When  Leices¬ 
ter  was  kneeling  to  receive  his  earldom,  the  dignity  of  the 
occasion  was  entirely  destroyed  by  the  volatile  queen 
bending  over  to  tickle  his  neck.  As  it  was  a  case  of  like 
queen,  like  people,  a  man  who  could  not  or  who  would 
not  swear  was  accounted  “a  peasant,  a  clown,  a  patch,  an 
effeminate  person.”  The  sine  qua  non  for  obtaining  the 
queen’s  favor  was  to  be  amusing.  It  mattered  nothing  at 
all  at  whose  expense,  or  how  personal  the  witticism,  or 


238 


WOMAN 


how  sensitive  the  one  who  was  made  the  butt  of  amuse¬ 
ment;  if  the  queen  enjoyed  it,  and  the  boisterous  laughter 
of  the  court  sycophants  was  evoked,  the  sufferer  had  to 
appear  gratified  at  the  honor  of  his  selection  for  his  sover¬ 
eign’s  entertainment.  Coarse  manners  were  but  the 
expression  of  coarser  morals;  even  men  of  the  cleanest 
characters  and  highest  intelligence  did  not  shrink  from 
any  allusion,  however  gross,  and  felt  no  impulse  to  check 
their  words  either  in  speech  or  in  writing.  Nor  were 
women  a  whit  more  regardful  of  the  proprieties  of  expres¬ 
sion.  Ascham  blamed  the  degradation  of  English  morals 
in  part  on  the  custom  of  sending  abroad  young  men  to 
Italy  to  finish  their  education,  and  alleged  that  the  corrup¬ 
tion  which  they  underwent  at  the  “court  of  Circe”  was 
responsible  for  the  spread  of  vicious  manners  in  English 
society.  He  writes:  “  I  know  divers  that  went  out  of  Eng¬ 
land,  men  of  innocent  life,  men  of  excellent  learning,  who 
returned  out  of  Italy,  not  only  with  worse  manners,  but 
also  with  less  learning.”  He  complains  of  the  introduction 
of  Italian  books  translated  into  English,  which  were  sold 
in  every  shop  of  London,  by  which  the  morals  of  the 
youth  were  corrupted,  and  whose  venom  was  the  more 
insidious  because  they  appeared  under  honest  titles  and 
were  dedicated  to  virtuous  and  honorable  personages.  As 
there  was  no  public  opinion  to  censure  the  reading  of  the 
women,  or  standards  to  control  their  conversation,  they 
did  not  feel  the  impropriety  of  acquainting  themselves 
with  such  works  and  of  openly  discussing  them.  Indeed, 
the  women  of  the  nobility  felt  themselves  freed  from  all  the 
restraints  which  the  modest  of  the  sex  normally  cherish 
for  their  protection. 

An  illustration  of  the  freedom  of  the  manners  of  the 
women  is  found  in  the  correspondence  of  Erasmus,  who, 
on  coming  to  England  as  a  young  man,  was  impressed  by 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


239 


the  prevalence  of  the  custom  of  kissing.  In  a  letter  to  a 
friend  in  Holland,  he  says,  in  effect,  that  the  women  kiss 
you  on  meeting  you,  kiss  you  on  taking  their  leave;  when 
you  enter  their  homes,  you  are  greeted  with  kisses,  and 
are  sped  on  your  way  by  the  same  osculatory  exercises; 
and  he  adds,  after  you  have  once  tasted  the  freshness  of 
the  lips  of  the  rosy  English  maidens,  you  will  not  want  to 
leave  this  delightful  country.  A  further  illustration  of  the 
same  thing  is  found  in  a  manual  of  so-called  English  con¬ 
versation,  published  in  1589:  a  traveller  on  arriving  at  an 
inn  is  instructed  to  discourse  as  follows  with  the  chamber¬ 
maid,  and  her  conventional  replies  are  given:  “My  shee 
frinde,  is  my  bed  made — is  it  good?”  “Yea,  sir,  it  is  a 
good  feder-bed;  the  scheetes  be  very  cleane.”  “Pull  off 
my  hosen  and  warme  my  bed;  drawe  the  curtines,  and 
pin  them  with  a  pin.  My  shee  frinde,  kisse  me  once,  and 
I  shall  sleape  the  better.  I  thank  you,  fayre  mayhem” 
This  suggestion  of  the  manners  obtaining  in  the  English 
inns  is  but  an  indication  of  a  similar  state  of  freedom 
throughout  the  lower  classes  of  society.  For  while  the 
glory  of  the  Elizabethan  age  was  found  mostly  at  the  top 
of  society,  its  coarseness  pervaded  all  ranks. 

The  rough  manners  of  the  age  extended  to  the  counte¬ 
nancing  of  all  sorts  of  brawls.  There  was  nothing  that 
would  collect  a  crowd  sooner  than  two  boys  whose  pug¬ 
nacity  had  led  them  from  words  to  blows;  the  passers-by 
considered  such  a  scene  fine  sport,  and  gathered  about  the 
young  combatants  to  encourage  them  in  their  fighting. 
Even  the  mothers  themselves,  far  from  punishing  their 
children  for  such  conduct,  encouraged  it  in  them.  Cock 
fighting,  bear  baiting,  wrestling,  and  sword  play  were 
favorite  pastimes.  The  girls  delighted  to  play  in  the  open 
air,  with  little  regard  to  grace  or  decorum;  a  game  called 
tennis  ball  was  popular.  The  milkwomen  had  their  dances, 


240 


WOMAN 


into  which  they  entered  with  zest.  Pets  were  in  favor 
with  the  ladies  almost  as  much  as  in  the  former  century, 
and  exploration  into  new  countries  had  increased  the  vari¬ 
ety  of  them.  In  the  prints  of  the  times,  ladies  are  often 
represented  with  monkeys  in  attendance  on  them. 

With  the  great  multiplicity  of  new  fashions,  in  novelties 
in  customs  and  in  costumes,  in  manners  and  even  in  mor¬ 
als,  there  came  into  vogue,  from  the  East,  hot,  or,  as  they 
were  called,  “  sweating  baths. ”  They  became  very  com¬ 
mon  throughout  England,  and  the  places  where  they  were 
to  be  gotten  were  commonly  called  “  hothouses,”  although 
their  Persian  name  of  hummums  was  also  preserved.  Ben 
Jonson  represents  a  character  in  the  old  play  The  Puritan 
as  saying  in  regard  to  a  laborious  undertaking:  “Marry,  it 
will  take  me  much  sweat;  I  were  better  to  go  to  sixteen 
hothouses .”  They  became  the  rendezvous  of  women,  who 
resorted  to  them  for  gossip  and  company.  The  rude  man¬ 
ners  of  the  age  were  not  conducive  to  the  preservation  of 
these  places  from  the  illicit  intrigues  which  made  them 
notorious,  and  caused  the  name  “hothouse”  to  become  a 
synonym  for  “brothel.”  It  was  their  acquired  character 
that  probably  led  eventually  to  their  disuse.  They  were 
not  necessarily  vicious,  and  they  furnished  a  convenience 
for  the  sex,  who  did  not  have  the  shops  and  clubs  of 
to-day  as  places  for  meeting  and  the  interchange  of  small 
talk.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  taverns  supplied 
this  need  for  the  men,  but,  excepting  in  the  case  of  the 
lower  orders  of  society,  the  women  had  no  similar  place 
for  such  social  intercourse  as  was  secured  to  the  men  by 
their  tavern  clubs.  The  hothouses  were  not  simply  bath 
houses  of  the  modern  Turkish  type,  but  were  restaurants 
as  well.  While  seated  in  the  steaming  bath,  refreshments 
and  lunch  were  served  on  tables  conveniently  arranged  for 
the  purpose,  and,  after  ablutions,  the  women  remained  as 


in 


MM 


Hi 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


241 


long  as  they  cared  to,  in  conversation.  The  picnics  which 
had  formerly  taken  place  at  the  tavern  were  transferred  to 
the  hot  bath,  each  of  the  women  carrying  to  the  feast  con¬ 
tributions  which  were  shared  in  common.  This  practice, 
which  began  with  the  servant  maids,  passed  to  their  mis¬ 
tresses  and  on  up  the  scale  of  society,  and  became  fashion¬ 
able  for  the  ladies  of  the  higher  circles.  In  the  absence 
of  the  modern  newspaper,  these  places  became  the  dis¬ 
tributing  centres  for  the  news  of  the  day  and  the  talk 
of  the  town..  The  tavern  served  the  same  purpose  for 
the  men. 

Dancing  was  indulged  in  by  all  classes  of  society,  and 
the  variety  and  curious  names  of  the  new  styles  which 
were  introduced  during  the  Elizabethan  era  are  well  set 
forth  in  the  following  quotation  from  a  festal  scene  in 
Haywood’s  Woman  Kilde  with  Kindnesse : 


“J.  SLIME. — I  come  to  dance,  not  to  quarrel.  Come,  what  shall  it  be? 
Roger  o  ? 

JEM. — Rogero!  no !  we  will  dance  the  Beginning  of  the  IVorld. 

SlSLY. — I  love  no  dance  so  well  as  John ,  Come  Kiss  Me  Now. 

NICH. — I  that  have  ere  now  defer’ d  a  cushion,  call  for  the  Cushion-dance. 
R.  BRICK. — For  my  part,  I  like  nothing  so  well  as  Tom  Tyler. 

JEM.— No;  we’ll  have  the  Hunting  of  the  Fox. 

J.  SLIME. — The  Hay;  The  Hay!  there’s  nothing  like  The  Hay! 

NICH. — I  have  said,  do  say,  and  will  say  again — 

JEM.— Every  man  agree  to  have  it  as  Nick  says. 

ALL. — Content. 

NICH. — It  hath  been,  it  is  now,  and  it  shall  be — 

SlSLY. — What,  Master  Nicholas?  What? 

NICH. — Put  on  your  Smock  o'  Monday. 

JEM. — So  the  dance  will  come  cleanly  off.  Come,  for  God’s  sake  agree 
on  something;  if  you  like  not  that,  put  it  to  the  musicians;  or  let  me  speak 
for  all,  and  we’ll  have  Sellengers  Round.” 


The  nuptial  usages  of  the  age  included  some  curious 
customs.  Thus,  we  are  told  by  Howe  in  his  Additions  to 
Stowe's  Chronicle  that,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 


242 


WOMAN 


“  It  was  the  custome  for  maydes  and  gentlewomen  to  give 
their  favourites,  as  tokens  of  their  love,  little  Handkerchiefs, 
of  about  three  or  four  inches  square,  wrought  round  about, 
and  with  a  button  or  a  tassel  at  each  corner,  and  a  little 
one  in  the  middle,  with  silke  and  thread;  the  best  edged 
with  a  small  gold  lace,  or  twist,  which  being  foulded  up  in 
foure  crosse  foldes,  so  as  the  middle  might  be  seene, 
gentlemen  and  other  did  usually  weare  them  in  their 
hattes,  as  favours  of  their  loves  and  mistresses.'  Some 
cost  six  pence  a  piece,  some  twelve  pence,  and  the  richest 
sixteen  pence.”  Handkerchiefs  were  the  customary  mes¬ 
sengers  of  Cupid;  the  present  of  a  handkerchief  with  love 
devices  worked  in  the  corners  was  a  delicate  expression  of 
the  tender  sentiment.  Thus,  in  Haywood’s  Fay  re  Mayde 
of  the  Exchange ,  Phyllis  brings  a  handkerchief  to  the 
Cripple  of  Fanchurch  to  be  embroidered,  and  says: 

“Only  this  hankercher;  a  young  gentlewoman 
Wish’d  me  to  acquaint  you  with  her  mind  herein: 

In  one  corner  of  the  same,  place  wanton  Love, 

Drawing  his  bow,  shooting  an  amorous  dart — 

Opposit  against  him  an  arrow  in  an  heart ; 

In  a  third  corner  picture  forth  Disdain, 

A  cruel  fate  unto  a  loving  vein ; 

In  the  fourth,  draw  a  springing  laurel-tree, 

Circled  about  with  a  ring  of  poesy.” 

Wedding  contracts  in  the  times  of  the  Tudors  were 
peculiar,  not  being  regarded  as  binding  unless  there  had 
been  an  exchange  of  gold  or  the  drinking  of  wine.  In  the 
old  play  of  The  Widow,  Ricardo  artfully  entices  the  widow 
into  a  verbal  contract,  whereupon  one  of  her  suitors  draws 
hope  for  himself  through  the  possibility  of  the  engagement 
being  invalid  because  it  lacked  the  observance  of  this 
custom.  He  says:  “Stay,  stay — you  broke  no  Gold  be- 
„  tween  you?”  To  which  she  answers:  “We  broke  noth¬ 
ing,  Sir;”  and  on  his  adding:  “  Nor  drank  to  each  other?” 


) 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


243 


she  replies:  “Not  a  drop,  Sir.”  Whence  he  draws  this 
conclusion:  “  That  the  contract  cannot  stand  good  in  Law.” 
The  custom  of  throwing  rice  after  a  wedded  couple  is  a 
continuance  of  the  practice  in  the  sixteenth  century  of 
throwing  wheat  upon  the  head  of  the  bride  as  she  came 
from  the  church.  Marriage  was  not  considered  irrevo¬ 
cable,  because,  aside  from  the  regular  forms  of  divorce,  it 
was  not  unusual  for  a  husband  to  sell  his  wife  for  a  satis¬ 
factory  consideration.  Even  down  to  recent  times,  the 
people  in  some  of  the  rural  districts  of  England  could  not 
understand  why  a  husband  had  not  a  right  so  to  dispose  of 
his  wife,  provided  he  delivered  her  over  with  a  halter 
around  her  neck.  Henry  Machyn  notes  in  his  Diary,  in 
1553,  the  following:  “  Dyd  ryd  in  a  cart  Checken,  parson 
of  Sant  Necolas  Coldabbay,  round  abowt  London,  for  he 
soldys  wyff  to  a  bowcher.”  When  the  contracting  parties 
were  too  poor  to  pay  for  the  ceremony  and  the  wedding 
feast,  and  the  expenses  of  the  occasion  were  met  by  the 
guests  clubbing  together,  the  occasion  was  termed  a 
“  penny  wedding.” 

One  of  the  popular  customs  of  the  day  was  to  observe 
Mayday  in  the  country  districts  by  erecting  a  brightly 
decorated  Maypole,  about  which  the  young  people  danced 
the  simple  rustic  dances.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  people 
to-day  sighing  for  a  return  of  the  good  old  customs  of 
yore,  and  a  favorite  lament  is  the  lapse  of  the  observance 
of  Mayday  in  the  old  English  manner.  There  was,  doubt¬ 
less,  some  innocent  amusement  associated  with  this  popu¬ 
lar  holiday,  and  only  the  most  captious  Puritan  could 
object  to  it  because  of  its  derivation  from  the  old  Roman 
festival  of  Flora;  but,  unfortunately,  the  manners  of  the 
sixteenth  century  did  not  leave  room  for  much  of  innocent 
observance  of  sports  and  pastimes  in  the  open  air,  so  that, 
in  fact,  the  dances  about  the  Maypole  were  too  frequently 


244 


WOMAN 


gross  and  unseemly.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  in  his  editing 
of  Morton’s  Narrative ,  in  the  Prince  Society  Publications, 
in  commenting  upon  the  Merrie  Mount  incident  in  the  early 
settlement  of  New  England,  calls  attention  in  a  footnote  to 
the  judgment  of  a  contemporary  writer  as  to  the  iniquities 
which  were  practised  in  connection  with  what  in  the  popu¬ 
lar  imagination  of  the  day  was  a  wholesome  and  happy 
pastime.  The  statement  in  the  passage  quoted  by  him  of 
the  startling  depravity  which  signalized  the  day  throughout 
rural  England  awakens  the  pertinent  question  as  to  what 
was  the  moral  state  of  the  women  of  the  rural  population  of 
the  country.  The  testimony  of  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  day,  and  the  effect  upon  England  of  the  indescribable 
profligacy  of  the  peoples  of  France  and  Italy,  force  the  un¬ 
pleasant  conclusion,  after  making  all  extenuation  for  the 
standards  which  then  obtained,  that  the  vice  which  in  the 
higher  circles  was  as  “the  creeping  thing  that  flieth  ”  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  lower  circles  of  society  in  all  of  its  foulness. 

Life  in  the  country  was  very  delightful;  buildings  of 
fanciful  architecture  were  erected,  the  majority  of  them 
still  being  of  wood,  the  better  sort  plastered  inside  and  the 
walls  hung  with  tapestry  or  wainscoted  with  oak,  against 
which  stood  out  in  bold  relief  the  glittering  gold  and  silver 
plate,  which  not  alone  the  nobles  and  gentry,  but  the  mer¬ 
chants  and  even  the  farmers  and  artisans,  loved  to  possess. 
But  in  spite  of  their  love  of  plate,  Venetian  glassware,  be¬ 
cause  of  its  rarity,  was  preferred  for  drinking  vessels. 
The  housewife  of  quality  no  longer  had  to  strew  rushes 
upon  the  floor,  for  Turkish  rugs  were  imported  and  used 
by  the  wealthy.  Beds  were  hung  with  the  finest  silk  or 
tapestry,  and  the  tables  were  covered  with  linen.  The 
homes  of  all  classes  showed  the  increase  in  the  comfort  of 
-  living.  Even  the  poorest  women  could  boast  of  chimneys 
to  their  houses,  and  were  no  longer  suffocated  by  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


245 


smoke  which  for  egress  depended  upon  a  hole  in  the  roof. 
In  1589  a  wise  law  was  passed  that  no  cottage  should  be 
built  on  a  tract  of  less  than  four  acres  of  land,  and  that  only 
one  family  was  to  live  in  each  cottage.  Feather  pillows 
and  beds  took  the  place  of  straw  pallets  with  a  log  of  wood 
for  a  headrest.  The  poorer  homes,  which  could  not  afford 
expensive  rugs,  were  still  strewn  with  sweet  herbs,  which, 
however,  were  renewed  and  kept  fresh,  and  the  bedcham¬ 
bers  were  made  fragrant  with  flowers.  The  economy  of  the 
kitchen  was  not  the  hard  problem  it  had  formerly  been,  for 
in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  the  period  of  which  we  are  speak¬ 
ing,  the  laboring  classes  could  obtain  meat  in  abundance. 
The  “  gentry  ate  wheaten,  and  the  poor  barley  bread;  beer 
was  mostly  brewed  at  home;  wine  was  drunk  in  the  richer 
houses.  T rade  brought  many  luxuries  to  the  English  table; 
spices,  sugar,  currants,  almonds,  dates,  etc.,  came  from  the 
East.”  Indeed,  so  many  currants  were  imported  into  the 
country  that  it  is  said  that  the  people  of  the  places  from 
whence  they  were  shipped  supposed  that  they  were  used 
for  the  extraction  of  dye  or  else  were  fed  to  the  hogs;  but 
the  real  explanation  was  the  great  fondness  of  the  English 
people  for  currants  and  raisins  in  their  pastry.  While  they 
were  not  gluttonous,  the  English  then,  as  now,  were  fond  of 
the  table,  and  gave  much  attention  to  eating  and  drinking. 

The  old  people  of  the  age  regretfully  looked  back  over 
their  lives  to  former  days,  when,  as  they  said,  although  the 
houses  were  but  of  willow,  Englishmen  were  oaken,  but 
now  the  houses  were  oaken  and  the  Englishmen  of  straw. 
The  appearance  of  chimneys  was  not  greeted  as  an  im¬ 
provement,  for  the  poor  had  never  fared  so  well  as  in  the 
smoky  halls  of  other  days;  they  could  not  bear  the  thought 
that  their  windows,  which  were  formerly  of  wickerwork, 
were  now  of  glass,  or  that  now,  instead  of  sweet  rushes,  for¬ 
eign  carpets  were  upon  the  floors  of  many  houses;  or  that  so 


246 


WOMAN 


many  houses  were  being  built  of  brick  and  stone,  plastered 
inside.  It  was  regarded  as  a  sure  indication  of  a  decline  in 
virility  that  the  sons  of  the  sturdy  yeomen  of  a  past  genera¬ 
tion  should  crave  comfortable  beds  hung  with  tapestry,  and 
use  pillows — luxuries  which  once  were  thought  suited  only 
for  women  in  childbed.  In  the  midst  of  an  influx  of  new 
comforts,  there  was  a  barrenness  of  things  considered  to-day 
to  be  essential,  and  the  absence  of  which  was  made  the  more 
glaring  by  reason  of  the  many  comforts  and  luxuries  with 
which  life  was  surrounded.  “Good  soap  was  an  almost 
impossible  luxury,  and  the  clothes  had  to  be  washed  with 
cow-dung,  hemlock,  nettles,  and  refuse  soap,  than  which,  in 
Harrison’s  opinion,  ‘there  is  none  more  unkindly  savor.’  ” 

A  Dutch  traveller,  who  in  1560  visited  England  and  re¬ 
corded  his  impressions  of  the  English  home,  introduces  us 
to  a  pleasant  picture  of  the  home  life  of  the  times,  in.  the 
following  words:  “The  neat  cleanliness,  the  exquisite 
fineness,  the  pleasant  and  delightful  furniture  in  every 
point  for  household,  wonderfully  rejoiced  me;  their  cham¬ 
bers  and  parlors  strawed  over  with  sweet  herbs,  refreshed 
me;  their  nosegays,  finely  intermingled  with  sundry  sorts 
of  fragrant  flowers  in  their  bedchambers  and  privy  rooms, 
with  comfortable  smell  cheered  me  up.”  The  parlors  were 
freshened  with  green  boughs  and  fresh  herbs  throughout 
the  summer,  and  with  evergreens  during  the  winter. 

During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  hours  for  meals  were 
the  same  as  in  the  fifteenth  century,  although  between  the 
first  meal  and  dinner  it  was  customary  to  have  a  small 
luncheon,  mostly  composed  of  beverages,  and  called  a 
bever.  A  character  in  one  of  Middleton’s  plays  says:  “  We 
drink,  that’s  mouth-hour;  at  eleven,  lay  about  us  for  vict¬ 
uals — that’s  hand-hour;  at  twelve,  go  to  dinner — that’s 
,  eating-hour.”  Dinner  was  the  most  substantial  meal  of 
the  day,  and  its  hearty  character  was  commented  upon  by 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


247 


foreign  travellers  in  England.  It  was  preceded  by  the 
same  ceremony  of  washing  the  hands  as  in  former  times, 
and  the  ewers  and  basins  used  for  the  purpose  were  often 
elaborate  and  showy.  It  must  be  remembered  that  at 
table  persons  of  all  ranks  used  their  fingers  instead  of 
forks,  and  the  laving  of  the  hands  during  the  meals  was 
important  for  comfort  and  cleanliness.  After  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  forks,  the  washing  of  hands  during  the  meal,  though 
no  longer  so  necessary  as  before,  was  continued  as  a  polite 
form  for  a  while,  although  the  after-meal  washing  appears 
to  have  been  discontinued.  The  pageantry  and  splendor 
which  attended  feasting  reached  their  greatest  height  in 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  tables  were 
arranged  around  the  side  of  the  hall,  some  for  the  guests, 
and  others  to  hold  the  tankards,  the  ewers,  and  the  dishes 
of  food;  for  it  had  not  yet  become  the  practice  to  put  any¬ 
thing  on  the  table  in  setting  it  other  than  the  plates,  the 
drinking  vessels,  the  saltcellars,  and  the  napkins.  The 
dresser,  or  the  cupboard,  was  the  greatest  display  article 
of  furniture  in  the  hall  of  the  houses  of  the  higher  orders  of 
society,  who  invested  large  amounts  of  money  in  vessels 
of  the  precious  metals  and  of  crystal,  which  were  some¬ 
times  set  with  precious  stones  and  were  always  of  the 
most  beautiful  patterns  and  of  odd  and  elaborate  forms. 
To  such  lengths  went  personal  pride  in  the  appearance  of 
the  dresser,  that  points  of  etiquette  were  raised  by  careful 
housewives  as  to  how  many  steps,  or  gradations  on  which 
the  rows  of  plate  were  placed  above  each  other,  members 
of  the  different  ranks  of  society  might  have  on  their  cup¬ 
boards.  Five  for  a  princess  of  royal  blood,  four  for  noble 
ladies  of  the  highest  rank,  three  for  nobility  under  the 
rank  of  duke,  two  for  knights-bannerets,  and  one  for  per¬ 
sons  who  were  merely  of  gentle  blood,  was  fixed  as  proper 
form.  Dinner  was  still  served  in  three  courses,  without 


248 


WOMAN 


any  great  distinction  in  the  character  of  the  dishes  served 
at  each  course.  One  of  the  writers  of  the  times  says: 
“In  number  of  dishes  and  changes  of  meat  the  nobility 
of  England  do  most  exceed. ”  “  No  day  passes  but  they 

have  not  only  beef,  mutton,  veal,  lamb,  kid,  pork,  coney, 
capon,  pig,  or  so  many  of  them  as  the  season  yields,  but 
also  fish  in  variety,  venison,  wildfowl,  and  sweets. ”  As 
there  were  but  two  full  meals  in  the  day,  and  as  the  house¬ 
holds  of  the  nobility,  including  the  many  servants  and  re¬ 
tainers,  were  large,  and  as  it  was  the  practice  for  the  chief 
servants  to  dine  with  the  family  and  the  guests,  it  will  be 
seen  that  a  large  and  varied  supply  of  food  was  needed. 
The  upper  table  having  been  served,  the  lower  servants 
were  supplied,  and  what  remained  was  bestowed  upon  the 
poor,  who  gathered  in  great  numbers  at  the  gates  of  the 
nobility  to  receive  the  leavings  from  their  meals.  It  can  be 
seen  that  the  labors  of  the  women  in  supervising  the 
affairs  of  the  household  were  onerous.  Among  gentlemen 
and  merchants,  four,  five,  or  six  dishes  sufficed,  and  if 
there  were  no  guests,  two  or  three.  Fish  was  the  article 
of  greatest  consumption  among  the  poor,  and  could  be 
obtained  at  all  seasons.  Fowls,  pigeons,  and  all  kinds  of 
game  were  abundant  and  cheap.  Butter,  milk,  cheese, 
and  curds  were  “reputed  as  food  appurtenant  to  the  in¬ 
ferior  sort.”  The  very  poor  usually  had  enough  ground 
in  which  to  raise  cabbages,  parsnips,  carrots,  pumpkins, 
and  such  like  vegetables,  which  constituted  their  principal 
food,  and  of  which  both  the  raising  and  the  preparation  for 
the  table  were  largely  the  work  of  the  women.  Among  the 
lower  classes,  the  various  feasts  of  the  year  and  the  bridal 
occasions  were  celebrated  with  great  festivity,  and  it  was 
the  custom  for  each  guest  to  contribute  one  or  more  dishes. 

“Sham”  is  the  keynote  to  an  understanding  of  Eliza¬ 
bethan  society;  the  Virgin  Queen  herself,  with  all  her 


HHH 


U 


a 


a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


249 


undoubted  worth  and  abilities,  was  the  embodiment  of  the 
vanity  and  pretence  of  her  age.  Young  unmarried  women 
loved  “to  show  coyness  in  gestures,  mince  in  words  and 
speeches,  gingerliness  in  tripping  on  toes  like  young  goats, 
demure  nicety  and  babyishness,”  and  when  they  went 
out,  they  had  silk  scarfs  “cast  about  their  faces, fluttering 
in  the  wind,  or  riding  in  their  velvet  visors,  with  two  holes 
cut  for  the  eyes.”  The  visors  here  mentioned  bring  to 
mind  Hamlet’s  “God  hath  given  you  one  face,  and  you 
make  yourself  another;  you  jig,  you  amble,  you  lisp,  you 
nickname  God’s  creatures,  and  make  your  wantonness 
your  ignorance.”  The  general  use  of  masks  in  public 
places  toward  the  close  of  Elizabeth’s  reign  did  not  improve 
the  moral  status  of  the  higher  classes.  The  pretentiousness 
and  the  superficiality  of  the  times  are  laid  bare  by  Harring¬ 
ton,  the  favorite  godson  of  the  queen,  whose  arraignment 
is  in  unsparing  terms:  “We  go  brave  in  apparel  that  we 
may  be  taken  for  better  men  than  we  be;  we  use  much  bom- 
bastings  and  quiltings  to  seem  better  framed,  better  shoul¬ 
dered,  smaller  waisted,  and  fuller  thighed  than  we  are;  we 
barb  and  shave  oft  to  seem  younger  than  we  are;  we  use 
perfumes,  both  inward  and  outward,  to  seem  sweeter, 
wear  corked  shoes  to  seem  taller,  use  courteous  saluta¬ 
tions  to  seem  kinder,  lowly  obeisance  to  seem  humbler, 
and  grave  and  godly  communication  to  seem  wiser  and 
devouter  than  we  be.” 

The  dress  of  the  women  of  the  Elizabethan  era  shows 
the  same  extravagance  that  is  apparent  in  all  the  exagger¬ 
ated  social  phases  of  the  time.  Philip  Stubbs,  who  wrote 
at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  book  entitled  The 
Anatomy  of  Abuses,  appears  to  have  been  a  choleric  and 
gloomy  observer  of  current  manners,  but,  with  due  allow¬ 
ance  for  the  spirit  in  which  he  writes,  a  very  clear  picture 
can  be  gotten  of  the  style  and  excesses  of  dress  of  the 


WOMAN 


250 

several  classes  of  society.  He  affirms  that  no  people  in 
the  world  were  so  hungry  after  new-fangled  styles  as 
were  those  of  his  country.  After  having  dilated  on  the 
large  amounts  spent  for  dress,  he  digresses  in  order  to 
moralize,  and  adds  that  the  fashionable  attire  of  the  day 
is  unsuited  to  the  actual  needs  of  the  wearers’  bodies  and 
“  maketh  them  weak,  tender,  and  infirm,  not  able  to  abide 
such  blustering  storms  and  sharp  showers  as  many  other 
people  abroad  do  daily  bear.”  It  is  curious  to  find  him 
harking  back  to  the  old  days  of  which  he  had  heard  his 
father  and  other  sages  speak,  when  all  the  clothes  for  the 
household  were  made  by  the  busy  housewife,  and  coats 
were  of  the  same  color  as  the  wool  when  it  was  on  the 
sheep’s  back.  In  the  abandonment  of  the  household  wool¬ 
len  industry  and  the  excessive  use  of  imported  fabrics,  he 
sees  the  reason  for  the  many  thousands  in  England  who 
were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  begging  bread.  Starch, 
which  is  now  such  a  homely  and  universally  helpful  laun¬ 
dry  assistant,  and  to  the  expert  use  of  which  so  much  of 
the  freshness  and  smartness  of  women’s  attire  is  due,  was 
then  first  introduced.  “There  is  a  certain  liquid  matter 
which  they  call  starch,”  says  this  censorious  critic  of  cur¬ 
rent  customs,  “wherein  the  devil  hath  learned  them  to 
wash  and  dive  their  ruffs;  which,  being  dry,  will  then 
stand  stiff  and  inflexible  about  their  necks.”  The  ladies 
of  his  day  must  have  been  more  expert  in  the  use  of  starch 
than  are  their  sisters  to-day,  as  they  introduced  into  it 
coloring  matter,  so  that  it  temporarily  dyed  the  fabrics 
red,  blue,  purple,  and  other  colors,  of  which  yellow  seems 
to  have  been  the  most  esteemed. 

The  yellow  starch  which  was  so  much  in  use  originated  in 
France,  and  was  introduced  into  England  by  a  Mrs.  Turner, 
a  physician’s  widow,  a  vain  and  infamous  woman,  who 
ended  her  career  on  the  gallows  in  expiation  of  the  murder 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD 


251 


of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury.  Bulwer  says  that  it  is  hard  “to 
derive  the  pedigree  of  the  cobweb-lawn-yellow-starched 
ruffs,  which  so  disfigured  our  nation,  and  rendered  them 
so  ridiculous  and  fantastical.”  It  appears  that  when  the 
introducer  of  the  custom  was  led  to  the  gallows  she  was 
conspicuous  in  a  yellow  ruff  worn  about  her  neck,  and 
after  her  execution  the  wearing  of  such  ruffs  rapidly  de¬ 
clined.  Having  said  this  much  about  the  ruffs  which  were 
a  characteristic  feature  of  the  dress  of  the  day  of  both  men 
and  women,  it  may  be  well  to  add  that  starch  was  not 
wholly  depended  upon  for  the  support  of  these  preposter¬ 
ous  neck  dresses.  Wire  frames  covered  with  silver  or 
silk  thread  were  employed  for  the  purpose.  These  ruffs 
are  often  referred  to  in  the  literature  of  the  period.  Allu¬ 
sion  is  made  to  them  in  the  play  of  Nice  Valour,  by  Beau¬ 
mont  and  Fletcher,  where  the  madman  says: 

“  Or  take  a  fellow  pinn’d  up  like  a  mistress, 

About  his  neck  a  ruff  like  a  pinch’d  lanthorn, 

Which  school-boys  make  in  winter.” 

Stubbs  also  pays  his  respects  to  the  gowns  of  the 
women,  which  he  says  were  no  less  “famous”  than  the 
rest  of  their  attire.  A  quotation  will  serve  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  materials  which  were  in  use  for  dress  goods  and  the 
embellishments  of  women’s  gowns;  “Some  are  of  silk, 
some  of  velvet,  some  of  grograin,  some  of  taffeta,  some 
of  scarlet,  and  some  of  fine  cloth  of  ten,  twenty,  or  forty 
shillings  the  yard;  but,  if  the  whole  garment  be  not  of 
silk  or  velvet,  then  the  same  must  be  laid  with  lace  two 
or  three  fingers  broad  all  over  the  gown,  or  else  the  most 
part;  or,  if  it  be  not  so,  as  lace  is  not  fine  enough,  now 
and  then  it  must  be  garded  with  gards  of  velvet,  every 
gard  four  or  five  fingers  broad  at  the  least,  and  edged  with 
costly  lace;  and,  as  these  gownes  be  of  divers  colours,  so 


252 


WOMAN 


are  they  of  divers  fashions,  changing  with  the  moon;  for, 
some  be  of  the  new  fashion,  some  of  the  old;  some 
with  sleeves,  hanging  down  to  their  skirts,  trailing  on 
the  ground,  and  cast  over  their  shoulders  like  cow-tails; 
some  have  sleeves  much  shorter  and  cut  up  the  arm, 
drawn  out  with  sundry  colours,  and  pointed  with  silk  rib¬ 
bands,  and  very  gallantly  tied  with  love-knots,  for  so  they 
call  them.”  To  these  striking  costumes  were  added  capes 
which  reached  down  to  the  middle  of  the  back,  and  which, 
our  author  informs  us,  were  “plaited  and  crested  with 
more  knacks  than  he  could  express.” 

It  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  mention  the  absurdities 
in  general  of  women’s  attire  and  toilette  during  the  eccen¬ 
tric  Elizabethan  era.  Ladies  painted  their  faces  and  wore 
false  hair,  as  they  had  done  in  other  ages,  only  with  greater 
refinements  of  hideousness;  they  stuffed  their  petticoats 
with  tow,  and  drew  in  their  waists  to  incredible  smallness 
as  compared  with  the  vast  expansiveness  of  their  form 
from  the  waist  down,  which  was  secured  by  the  use  of 
farthingales.  The  way  they  tilted  up  their  feet  with  long 
cork  soles  made  them  amble  much  after  the  fashion  of  the 
women  of  China  with  their  bandaged  feet.  They  wore 
jewels  and  ornaments  in  great  profusion,  fine  colored  silk 
hose,  which  had  lately  been  introduced  among  the  other 
foreign  “gewgaws”  of  the  times,  and  exchanged  with 
their  friends  as  valued  presents  embroidered  and  perfumed 
gloves.  In  the  light  of  the  varied  styles  of  the  day,  the 
criticism,  “Like  a  crow,  the  Englishman  borrows  his 
feathers  from  all  nations,”  was  a  true  one. 

In  the  midst  of  the  gayety  and  frivolity  of  the  Eliza¬ 
bethan  age,  the  forces  of  reaction  were  hidden,  but  already 
active;  and  the  mutterings  of  discontent  which  were  heard 
presaged  the  social  outbreak  which  was  to  lead  a  king  to 
the  block. 


1 


H 


(Chapter  X5 

2Ti)p  ®2Uomrn  of  tijr  Commontoealtf) 

iPpn'oD 


■ 

■ 

• 

s. 


•  } 

. 

( 


XI 

THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD 

THE  great  evil  of  Puritanism  was  the  tendency  to  hypoc¬ 
risy  which  it  produced  among  the  people,  by  forcing  upon 
them  the  simulation  of  a  virtue  greater  than  they  in  reality 
possessed.  An  affectation  of  piety  which  was  carried  to 
fanatical  extremes,  and  which  affected  men  and  women 
alike  and  made  them  fall  into  stereotyped  expressions  and 
cant  utterances  having  a  savor  of  religiosity,  while  barren 
of  the  spirit  of  true  devotion,  was,  to  say  the  least,  un¬ 
wholesome  for  the  nation.  But  the  very  fact  that  the 
pendulum  had  swung  so  far  in  the  direction  of  primitive 
austerity  in  life  and  in  worship  showed  that  behind  the 
hollow  and  insincere  forms  and  words  of  Puritanism  there 
was  a  magnificent  earnestness  of  purpose,  such  as  had 
been  foreign  to  English  life  as  a  whole,  although  to  be 
found  among  the  followers  of  Wyckliffe  and  the  Lollards. 

As  the  spirit  of  Puritanism  spread,  its  opponents,  who 
were  styled  the  Libertines,  became  more  defiant  in  their 
attitude  and  less  regardful  of  the  strictures  which  the 
narrow-minded  bigots,  as  they  styled  the  Puritans,  cast 
upon  them.  Thus,  the  women  were  divided  by  the  ex¬ 
tremes  of  position  occupied  by  the  men.  Drunkenness 
among  women  of  rank  became  very  common.  Intellectual 
fervor  declined  and  learning  became  superficial,  while  the 
pet  vices,  inanities,  and  vain  pomp  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 

255 


>  t( , 1  1 


256 


WOMAN 


lost  much  of  their  glitter  and  became  mere  prosaic  and 
gross  immorality.  While  the  women  of  the  court  in¬ 
dulged  in  revelry,  to  the  scandal  of  their  sisters  of  the 
middle  classes,  the  latter,  by  their  piety  as  well  as  by 
their  pious  affectations,  brought  upon  themselves  coarse 
witticisms,  ribald  mirth,  and  allegations  of  misconduct 
under  the  guise  of  sanctity.  So  it  happened  that  just 
when  the  women  of  the  middle  classes  were  approaching  in 
position  their  sisters  of  the  higher  circles,  by  the  ascent  of 
the  class  to  which  they  belonged  and  by  the  recognition  on 
the  part  of  the  superior  ranks  of  their  worth  as  individuals 
and  their  importance  as  a  sound  element  of  the  nation,  the 
tendency  toward  a  uniform  equality,  however  remote  its 
realization,  was  rudely  checked  by  an  issue  which  sun¬ 
dered  the  respective  classes  to  the  nethermost  poles.  It 
then  became  but  a  question  of  which  section  of  the  nation 
should  administer  its  affairs  and  direct  its  destiny.  When 
the  two  opposing  camps  of  aristocracy  and  democracy  met 
in  conflict,  King  Charles  was  led  to  the  gibbet,  not  because 
the  feeling  of  the  people  was  so  especially  bitter  against 
him  personally,  as  that  he  was  the  impersonation  of  an 
aristocracy  which  had  become  so  intrenched  in  power, 
that,  regardless  of  its  acts,  it  claimed  divine  right  to  rule. 

The  female  sex,  as  a  whole,  was  not  held  in  high  es¬ 
teem  by  the  Puritans,  however  dear  to  them  may  have 
been  the  women  of  their  own  households.  By  the  gayety 
and  licentiousness  of  the  brilliant  era  of  Elizabeth,  women 
had  forfeited  the  esteem  of  these  stern  censors  of  public 
virtue,  and  were  held  up  as  snares  in  the  way  of  the 
righteous  and  as  emissaries  of  Satan.  It  would  be  unjust 
to  the  sound  judgment  of  those  earnest  men  of  powerful 
thought  and  tested  standards  even  to  suggest  that  they 
did  not  make  a  distinction  between  woman  in  disgrace — 
as  they  regarded  the  women  in  representative  life  about 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  257 


them — and  woman  in  her  normal  and  helpful  relationship 
to  society,  as  illustrated  in  the  Biblical  types  of  exalted 
womanhood.  It  was  but  natural  that,  at  a  time  when  the 
social  sin  was  the  canker  of  society,  woman  should  have 
been  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  the  temptress  in  Eden.  It 
is  only  with  such  qualification  that  the  characterization  of 
a  writer  on  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth,  whose  de¬ 
scription  is  generally  accurate,  can  be  accepted:  “  Under 
the  Commonwealth,  society  assumed  a  new  and  stern 
aspect.  Women  were  in  disgrace;  it  was  everywhere 
declared  from  the  pulpit  that  woman  caused  man’s  expul¬ 
sion  from  Paradise,  and  ought  to  be  shunned  by  Christians 
as  one  of  the  greatest  temptations  of  Satan.  ‘  Man,’  said 
they,  Ms  conceived  in  sin  and  brought  forth  in  iniquity;  it 
was  his  complacency  to  woman  that  caused  his  first  de¬ 
basement;  let  man  not  therefore  glory  in  his  shame;  let 
him  not  worship  the  fountain  of  his  corruption.’  Learning 
and  accomplishments  were  alike  discouraged,  and  women 
confined  to  a  knowledge  of  cooking,  family  medicines,  and 
the  unintelligible  theological  discussions  of  the  day.” 

The  high  tension  which  had  been  maintained  during  the 
preceding  reign  was  followed  during  those  of  James  I.  and 
Charles  I.  by  a  mental  inertia;  and  the  intellectual  life  of 
the  people,  which  had  resulted  from  the  revival  of  learning 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  languished  and  almost  died  of 
inanition.  Even  among  those  men — the  courtiers — who 
amused  themselves  chiefly  by  the  foibles  of  the  other  sex, 
there  was  a  morbid  reaction  against  their  associates  in 
frivolity.  It  was  no  longer  customary  to  praise  women 
for  their  wit  and  repartee  and  to  look  upon  them  as  bril¬ 
liant,  or  to  regard  their  coarse  jests  as  delicate  humor; 
instead  of  this,  these  men  affected  toward  them  great  con¬ 
tempt,  and  scoffed  at  all  other  men  who  manifested 
respect  for  the  sex.  Whether  among  the  nobility  or 


258 


WOMAN 


among  the  Puritans,  woman  was  wounded  in  the  house  of 
her  friends. 

Amid  the  premonitory  rumblings  of  civil  strife  and  the 
actual  horrors  of  war,  when  the  nation  was  rent  asunder, 
the  matters  of  belief  and  of  conduct  were  the  burning 
themes  for  thought  and  discussion;  it  was  not  possible  to 
maintain  interest  in  intellectual  concerns,  even  if  there  had 
not  been  a  reaction  from  the  highly  wrought  state  of  mind 
of  the  preceding  era.  That  behind  the  Puritans’  apparent 
hatred  of  beauty  and  of  the  grace  of  intellect  and  of  life 
there  was  no  real  abandonment  of  the  true  principles 
which  underlie  all  permanent  beauty  and  grace  is  suffi¬ 
ciently  shown  by  the  production  of  that  poet  who  sounded 
deepest  the  reaches  of  philosophy  and  scaled  highest  the 
ascents  of  poetic  thought — the  great  Milton.  He  it  was 
who  caught  the  deep  significance  of  the  movements  of  the 
age,  and  brought  them  into  harmony  with  the  parable  of 
human  history- — a  feat  so  mighty  that  it  called  forth  the 
highest  flights  of  poetic  fancy  and  sought  the  embodiment 
of  the  best  graces  of  language.  It  is  not  without  interest 
to  note  the  absence  of  woman  in  the  lofty  theme  of  Milton, 
saving  only  as  she  appears  in  the  Puritanic  conception  of 
the  temptress. 

Another  of  the  Puritans,  who  in  his  way  was  as  great 
as  Milton,  Bunyan,  the  Bedford  tinker,  caught  and  set 
forth  in  magnificent  allegory  the  meaning  of  the  Puritan 
movement  for  the  individual;  but  there  is  an  absence  of 
woman  in  the  story  of  the  pilgrimage  of  Christian  to  the 
Celestial  City,  excepting  as  she  appears  in  the  character 
of  the  temptress,  as  at  Vanity  Fair.  The  Christian 
Graces,  who  are  represented  as  women,  are  not  types 
of  the  sex  of  the  day,  but  are  used  to  point  the  contrast 
the  more  sharply  between  woman  in  ideal  and  woman 
as  the  product  of  the  times  of  the  Puritans.  It  remained, 


HBH 


ft 


Hi 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  259 

however,  for  the  Puritans  to  refine  the  sex  by  the  fires  of 
relentless  criticism  and  to  produce  the  severer,  but  much 
nobler,  Christian  woman,  who  became  the  normal  type, 
not  only  for  the  middle  classes,  but,  to  an  extent,  for  the 
women  of  the  higher  circles  as  well. 

The  state  of  society  was  not  favorable  for  intellectual 
expression  on  the  part  of  woman,  although  it  can  hardly 
be  said  that  it  retarded  intellectual  progress.  The  char¬ 
acter  of  the  English  woman  was  being  affected  in  a  way  to 
save  it  from  becoming  merely  superficial  and  volatile,  like 
that  of  her  French  sister,  and  her  intellect  was  being 
sobered  for  literary  production  that  should  have  worthier 
qualities  than  mere  brilliancy  to  recommend  it.  When  the 
women  of  the  middle  classes  stepped  out  into  the  arena  of 
authorship,  the  value  of  the  Puritan  period  as  a  corrective 
of  the  frivolity  and  false  standards  for  women  which  had 
previously  obtained  becomes  manifest  in  their  writings. 

The  loss  of  opportunities  of  education  for  the  women  of 
the  middle  classes,  which  was  a  result  of  the  dissolution 
of  the  religious  houses,  had  never  quite  been  made  good, 
and  even  down  to  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  cen¬ 
tury  there  was  no  adequate  system  of  popular  education. 
In  the  case  of  the  children  of  the  nobility,  suitable  educa¬ 
tion  and  training  for  their  station  in  life  could  be  obtained 
only  by  sending  them  abroad  to  Italy,  France,  or  Germany, 
or  by  bringing  foreign  teachers  into  the  country.  Girls 
were  never  sent  abroad  for  their  education;  and  in  the 
case  of  the  daughters  of  middle-class  society,  all  -that  was 
regarded  as  needful  was  training  in  the  practical  affairs  of 
housewifery — to  which,  in  the  case  of  the  Puritans,  was 
added  inculcation  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  reading  of  other 
devout  books.  The  current  opinion  is  well  expressed  in 
the  following  citation  from  The  Art  of  Thriving :  “  Let  them 
learne  plaine  workes  of  all  kind,  so  they  take  heed  of  too 


260 


WOMAN 


open  seeming.  Instead  of  song  and  musick,  let  them  learne 
cookery  and  laundry,  and  instead  of  reading  Sir  Philip 
Sydney’s  Arcadia ,  let  them  read  the  grounds  of  huswifery. 
I  like  not  a  female  poetesse  at  any  hand:  let  greater  per¬ 
sonages  glory  their  skill  in  musicke,  the  posture  of  their 
bodies,  the  greatnesse  and  freedome  of  their  spirits,  and 
their  arts  in  arraigning  of  men’s  affections  at  their  flattering 
faces:  this  is  not  the  way  to  breed  a  private  gentleman’s 
daughter.” 

Even  if  higher  education  for  women  were  not  recognized 
as  important  in  the  seventeenth  century — and  the  facilities 
were  not  at  hand,  even  if  the  sentiment  had  existed — it 
would  be  captious  criticism  to  construe  this  into  a  griev¬ 
ance  against  the  sex.  In  all  that  pertained  to  dignity  and 
real  worth,  the  women  of  the  Commonwealth,  with  all  the 
narrowness  of  their  training,  were  much  in  advance  of 
womankind  at  the  beginning  of  the  modern  era,  and  their 
moral  differentiation  from  the  women  of  the  same  class 
before  the  spread  of  Puritanism  was  most  marked.  Puri¬ 
tanism  was  a  distinct  gain  for  woman,  for  through  that 
movement  the  process  of  raising  women  in  the  social  scale 
received  great  impetus.  A  comparison  with  the  girls  of 
France  of  about  the  same  period  certainly  shows  that  the 
low  state  of  education  among  the  sex  in  England  was  not 
in  any  wise  peculiar  to  English  conditions.  Fenelon,  in 
referring  to  the  neglect  of  the  education  of  the  girls  of  his 
country,  says:  “  It  is  shameful,  but  ordinary,  to  see 
women  who  have  acuteness  and  politeness,  not  able  to 
pronounce  what  they  read;  either  they  hesitate  or  they 
intone  in  reading,  when,  instead,  they  should  pronounce 
with  a  simple  and  natural  tone,  but  rounded  and  uniform. 
They  are  still  more  deficient  in  orthography,  whether  in 
the  manner  of  composing  their  letters  or  in  reading  them 
when  written.” 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  261 


The  Civil  War  itself  had  a  wide  effect  upon  the  state  of 
education  among  the  people.  Families  in  which  education 
had  been  fostered,  with  the  turn  of  their  fortunes  found  it 
impossible  to  continue  it;  families  whose  fortunes  had  risen 
by  political  changes  felt  their  deficiency  in  this  respect, 
and  affected  to  despise  accomplishments  of  which  they 
themselves  were  destitute.  Certain  of  the  more  enlight¬ 
ened  Puritan  women  pretended  to  apply  themselves  to  the 
study  of  Hebrew,  on  the  ground  that  they  looked  upon  it 
as  necessary  to  eternal  salvation.  Such  pedantry  brought 
no  credit  to  those  who  affected  it,  but  only  served  to  heap 
odium  upon  the  higher  studies,  which  were  now  rejected 
with  contempt  on  all  sides.  How  effectually  interest  in 
education  was  suppressed  by  the  civil  disorders  is  shown 
by  a  remark  of  a  traveller  who  visited  the  country  after 
the  Revolution.  He  says:  “Here  in  England  the  women 
are  kept  from  all  learning,  as  the  profane  vulgar  were  of 
old  from  the  mysteries  of  the  ancient  religions. ”  It  is 
amusing  to  note  the  theories  which  had  arisen  with  regard 
to  female  education  and  which  were  used  to  extenuate  its 
lack.  Some  apologists  for  feminine  ignorance  gravely 
asserted  and  led  others  to  believe  that  the  women  of  Eng¬ 
land  “were  too  delicate  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  acquiring 
knowledge,”  besides  being  by  nature  incapable  of  doing 
so,  for,  said  they,  “the  moisture  of  their  brain  rendered  it 
impossible  for  them  to  possess  a  solid  judgment,  that 
faculty  of  the  mind  depending  upon  a  dry  temperature.” 
But  the  unanswerable  argument  of  all  was  that  death  and 
sin  had  fallen  upon  the  race  of  Adam  solely  in  consequence 
of  the  thirst  which  Eve  had  manifested  for  knowledge. fin 
the  face  of  such  contentions,  it  was  not  difficult  to  lead 
people  generally  to  accept  the  further  conclusion  as  to  the 
disastrous  consequences  which  would  certainly  come  upon 
society  when  woman  became  puffed  up  with  her  mental 


262 


WOMAN 


acquirements;  the  favorable  opinion  which  she  would  then 
have  of  herself  would  not  harmonize  with  that  obedience 
to  men  for  which  she  was  created 3  Worthy  of  note  is 
the  fact  that  these  views  extended  in  some  circles  to  the 
arresting  of  the  progress  of  religious  instruction,  especially 
that  of  a  public  nature.  Evelyn,  in  his  Diary,  says  that 
while  the  saints  inherited  the  earth  under  the  Protectorate, 
it  was  his  invariable  custom  to  devote  his  Sunday  after¬ 
noons  to  the  catechising  and  instruction  of  his  family;  but, 
he  remarks,  these  wholesome  exercises  “universally 
ceased  in  the  parish  churches,  so  as  people  had  no  prin¬ 
ciples,  and  grew  very  ignorant  of  even  the  common  points 
of  Christianity,  all  devotions  being  now  placed  in  hear¬ 
ing  sermons  and  discourses  of  speculative  and  national 
things.” 

There  was  a  sterner  side  to  the  religious  movement  in 
England  than  its  relation  to  matters  intellectual  or  even 
moral.  The  Reformation  under  Henry  VIII.  had  added 
the  names  of  certain  women  to  those  of  the  noble  army  of 
martyrs  of  all  the  ages.  To  be  false  to  conscience  was  to 
be  false  to  the  very  principles  of  their  being,  and  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant  women  became  intensely  strong 
in  their  convictions  and  intolerant  of  those  of  others.  The 
Roman  Church  offered  up  its  holocaust  to  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  the  leaders  of  the  Protestant  movement,  just 
as  the  Roman  Church  in  turn  exacted  the  tribute  of  their 
lives  from  many  adherents  of  Protestantism.  Woman  was 
looked  upon  as  inferior  to  man  and  less  capable  of  responsi¬ 
ble  action,  but  in  meting  out  persecutions  there  was  no  dis¬ 
tinction  as  to  sex,  the  weaker  suffering  equally  with  the 
stronger.  The  history  of  religious  persecutions  in  England 
is  one  of  its  least  engaging  chapters,  and  extends  over  a 
long  period.  Puritan,  Prelatist,  and  Catholic  alike  dark¬ 
ened  the  annals  of  the  times  by  deeds  of  violence.  To 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  263 


recite  the  sufferings  of  women  under  the  crossfires  of  per¬ 
secution  would  be  at  best  an  ungracious  task;  and  as  such 
experiences  form  but  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  sex 
during  the  period  which  we  have  broadly  styled  the  period 
of  the  Commonwealth,  an  instance  or  two  of  the  suffer¬ 
ings  of  notable  women,  irrespective  of  their  party  affilia¬ 
tions,  will  suffice  for  citation. 

One  of  the  most  sorrowful  of  the  judicial  murders  of 
which  a  woman  was  the  victim,  which  occurred  during  the 
whole  of  this  extended  period,  was  that  of  Lady  Lisle, 
who,  because  of  her  sympathies  with  Monmouth’s  rebel¬ 
lion  against  the  king,  was  brutally  executed,  the  specific 
charge  being  the  harboring  of  fugitives.  The  king’s  proj¬ 
ect  to  hand  over  the  nation  to  papacy  nowhere  aroused 
such  outbursts  of  indignation  as  among  the  Covenanters 
of  Scotland,  who  saw  in  it  the  destruction  of  all  their  hard- 
wrought-out  religious  liberties,  and  the  endangering  of 
their  lives,  besides  the  return  of  the  nation  to  the  chaos 
from  which  it  was  emerging.  The  address  of  Lady  Lisle 
before  her  execution  is  an  example  of  the  sublimity  to 
which  woman’s  character  may  rise  under  persecution, 
when  the  spirit  is  buoyed  by  faith:  “  Gentlemen,  Friends, 
and  Neighbors,  it  may  be  expected  that  I  should  say  some¬ 
thing  at  my  death,  and  in  order  thereunto  I  shall  acquaint 
you  that  my  birth  and  education  were  both  near  this 
place,  and  that  my  parents  instructed  me  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  I  now  die  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Religion; 
believing  that  if  ever  popery  should  return  into  this  nation, 
it  would  be  a  very  great  and  severe  judgment.  .  .  . 

The  crime  that  was  laid  to  my  charge  was  for  entertaining 
a  Non-conformist  Minister  and  others  in  my  house;  the 
said  minister  being  sworn  to  have  been  in  the  late  Duke 
of  Monmouth’s  army.”  Continuing,  she  said:  ”1  have 
no  excuse  but  surprise  and  fear,  which  I  believe  my  Jury 


264 


WOMAN 


must  make  use  of  to  excuse  their  verdict  to  the  world.  1 
have  been  also  told  that  the  Court  did  use  to  be  of  counsel 
for  the  prisoner;  but  instead  of  advice,  I  had  evidence 
against  me  from  thence;  which,  though  it  were  only  by 
hearing,  might  possibly  affect  my  Jury;  my  defence  being 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  a  weak  woman;  but  such  as 
it  was,  I  did  not  hear  it  repeated  to  the  Jury,  which,  as  I 
have  been  informed,  is  usual  in  such  cases.'  However, 
I  forgive  all  the  world,  and  therein  all  those  that  have 
done  me  wrong.”  Another  victim  of  the  same  “Bloody 
Assize”  of  Jeffreys,  Mrs.  Gaunt,  of  Wapping,  pathetically 
says:  “I  did  but  relieve  an  unworthy,  poor,  distressed 
family,  and  lo,  I  must  die!” 

The  age  was  the  legatee  of  a  spirit  of  venom  and  bigotry 
which  expressed  itself  in  deeds  of  violence  more  distressing 
than  those  incident  to  the  religious  wars.  Deeds  of  blood, 
when  connected  with  the  defence  of  convictions,  have  about 
them  something  of  the  heroic,  but  there  is  absolutely  no 
ray  of  glory  to  fall  upon  and  lighten  the  dreary  records  of 
the  war  upon  defenceless  women  charged  with  being 
witches,  which  broke  out  with  fresh  virulence  with  the 
increase  of  religious  fervor  under  the  Commonwealth. 
The  charges  were  many  and  specious,  but  a  very  common 
form  centred  about  the  compassionate  functions  of  women 
as  the  ameliorators  of  human  distress. 

The  history  of  witchcraft  is  so  intimately  associated 
with  that  of  medicine,  that  to  write  an  account  of  the  one 
involves  a  recital  of  the  other.  The  utter  lack  of  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  anatomy  of  the  human  body  and  its  functions, 
which  continued  down  to  quite  recent  times,  accounts  for 
the  mystery  and  magic  which  surrounded  the  whole  sub¬ 
ject  of  medicine,  not  only  earlier  than  and  during  the 
period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  but  long  subsequent 
to  it.  The  one  who  could  successfully  treat  disease  was 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  265 


regarded  as  in  league  with  the  powers  of  darkness.  Until 
the  practice  of  medicine  came  to  be  established  upon  scien¬ 
tific  principles,  the  care  of  the  sick  largely  devolved  upon 
women.  Had  it  been  men  instead  of  women  who  per¬ 
formed  the  crude  but  often  sincere  service  of  nurse  and 
physician,  they  would  have  come  under  the  same  ban 
with  the  effects  of  which  the  practitioners  of  the  other  sex 
were  visited.  It  is  not  probable,  however,  that  the  public 
odium  would  have  gone  to  such  lengths  of  violence  in  its 
expression. 

Among  savage  peoples,  as  the  primitive  tribes  of  Africa 
and  the  American  aborigines,  the  man  who  can  dispel  dis¬ 
ease  by  a  fetich — the  great  medicine-man  of  a  tribe — has 
always  been  regarded  with  a  feeling  of  combined  jealousy, 
suspicion,  and  fear;  but,  because  of  the  occult  powers  he 
is  supposed  to  control,  fear  predominates  and  passes  into 
a  form  of  reverence.  Not  so,  however,  in  the  case  of 
woman,  of  whom  we  write;  she  was  looked  upon  as  having 
forfeited,  to  an  extent,  her  claims  upon  humanity  by  her 
original  alliance  with  Satan,  and,  being  outside  of  the  pale 
of  God’s  grace,  or  sustaining  only  a  permissive  relation¬ 
ship  to  it,  it  was  deemed  a  pious,  a  safe,  and  a  creditable 
thing  to  mete  out  to  her  the  divine  dispensation  of  wrath. 
Thus  again,  amid  numerous  instances  of  woman’s  suffer¬ 
ing  as  a  penalty  for  her  sex,  we  have  the  occurrence  of 
woman  being  persecuted  unto  death  because  of  her  com¬ 
passion.  It  was  not  regarded  as  despicable  for  the  very 
person  who  had  been  succored  by  her  in  the  hour  of  sick¬ 
ness  to  turn  informant  and  declare  that  he  or  she  had  been 
healed  by  diabolical  agency,  and,  whether  under  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  an  honest  hallucination,  or  simply  actuated  by  a 
malicious  propensity,  to  declare  that  evil  spirits  had  actu¬ 
ally  been  conjured  up  in  human  form  and  been  seen  by 
the  eyes  of  the  sufferer. 


266 


WOMAN 


Women  were  not  blameless  in  the  matter  of  their  repu¬ 
tation  for  possessing  occult  knowledge  and  having  diabol¬ 
ical  relations;  for  there  were  many  women  who,  being 
morally  not  beyond  reproach,  separated  themselves  from 
society  as  they  grew  older,  and  resorted  to  medicinal 
knowledge  and  magic  for  a  living  and  to  maintain  in  the 
public  eye  the  position  of  unenviable  notoriety  of  which 
they  had  become  morbidly  fond.  It  gratified  such  natures 
to  be  reputed  to  possess  the  power — which  even  philoso¬ 
phers  ascribed  to  them — of,  at  certain  seasons,  turning 
milk  sour,  making  dogs  rabid,  and  producing  other  such 
freakish  manifestations.  They  were  considered  to  be  able 
not  only  to  heal  sickness,  but  to  cause  it;  and  the  pres¬ 
ence  in  one’s  clothing  of  a  pin  whose  irritant  end  was 
pointed  in  the  wrong  direction  was  sufficient  to  make  the 
person  believe  that  he  was  under  a  spell  of  witchcraft.  If 
a  cow  or  a  horse  fell  lame,  it  was  the  village  witch  who 
did  it;  if  a  child  developed  as  an  imbecile,  or  anyone  be¬ 
came  bereft  of  reason,  it  was  laid  at  the  door  of  the  witch; 
the  failure  of  crops,  a  drought, — anything  that  interfered 
with  the  comfort  or  convenience  of  a  person  or  a  commu¬ 
nity, — was  due  to  some  such  representative  of  Satan. 

As  the  number  of  happenings  of  this  sort  increased,  or 
there  occurred  an  epidemic  of  disease,  or  a  flood  or  famine 
of  especial  virulence,  the  number  of  alleged  witches  cor¬ 
respondingly  increased;  and  so  the  persecution  swelled  in 
volume,  each  wave  of  malevolence  receding  only  to  rise 
in  larger  aspect  on  the  next  occasion  of  its  arousing.  Not 
until  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  were  there  any  enactments 
against  witchcraft  in  England;  prior  to  the  passage  of  these 
acts,  the  persecution  of  a  sorceress  followed  only  upon  an 
accusation  of  poisoning.  During  some  parts  of  the  Middle 
Ages  the  crime  of  poisoning  was  extensive,  and  certain 
women  were  adepts  in  making  the  deadly  potions.  To  such 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  267 


abandoned  characters  resorted  persons  of  state  who  desired 
to  make  away  with  hated  rivals,  or  the  men  and  women  of 
the  nobility  who  sought  to  hide  or  to  further  their  intrigues 
by  the  death  of  someone  who  stood  in  their  way.  As  the 
women  who  practised  the  arts  of  the  poisoner  were  also 
devotees  of  sorcery,  the  crime  and  the  superstition  came 
to  be  thought  of  together.  One  reason  for  the  detestation 
of  witches  was  the  subtlety  they  displayed  in  concoct¬ 
ing  poisons  which  slowly  sapped  the  vitality  of  a  person, 
as  if  by  a  wasting  illness.  In  1541,  conjuring,  sorcery, 
and  witchcraft  were  placed  in  the  list  of  capital  offences. 
Similar  statutes  were  enacted  during  the  succeeding  reigns 
of  Elizabeth  and  James  I. 

The  curious  matter  of  demoniacal  possession  called  forth 
a  great  many  books  and  pamphlets  treating  of  its  nature, 
history,  methods  of  repression,  and  the  dispossession  of 
those  under  witches’  spells.  John  Wier,  a  physician, 
wrote  a  treatise,  in  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
in  which  he  described  witches  as  but  exaggerated  types  of 
the  perversity  which  is  found  in  women  generally.  In  the 
easy  subjection  of  the  sex  to  malign  influences  he  saw  a 
proof  of  its  greater  moral  weakness. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  as  prolific  of  cases  of 
persecution  of  women  for  demon  possession  as  any  of 
those  of  the  less  enlightened  period  of  medievalism.  In 
1568,  in  a  sermon  before  Queen  Elizabeth,  Bishop  Jewell 
said:  “It  may  please  your  Grace  to  understand  that 
witches  and  sorcerers  within  these  few  last  years  are 
marvellously  increased  within  your  Grace’s  realm.  Your 
Grace’s  subjects  pine  away  even  unto  the  death,  their 
colour  fadeth,  their  flesh  rotteth,  their  speech  is  benumbed, 
their  knees  are  bereft.  I  pray  God  they  never  practise 
further  than  upon  the  subjects.’’  The  Bull  of  Inno¬ 
cent  VIII.,  in  1484,  did  not  do  more  for  the  furtherance 


268 


WOMAN 


of  persecution  of  the  unfortunates  who  came  under  suspi¬ 
cion  of  using  magic  than  did  the  declaration  of  Luther: 
“1  should  have  no  compassion  on  these  witches;  I  would 
burn  all  of  them.”  As  upon  the  continent,  so  in  England 
reformers  took  up  the  persecution  of  witches  with  keen 
zest,  as  a  contest  with  the  powers  of  darkness  working 
for  the  destruction  of  the  peace  and  health  of  humanity 
in  an  open  and  flagrant  manner.  The  same  spirit  of 
espionage  which  was  one  of  the  baleful  effects  of  the 
outbreaks  of  persecution  during  the  Middle  Ages  attended 
the  persecution  of  witchcraft  in  England  during  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century.  To  save  themselves  from  suspicion,  per¬ 
sons  informed  against  others,  and  even  members  of  a 
household  would  give  evidence  leading  to  the  trial  of  those 
of  their  own  kin.  When  an  unfortunate  fell  under  suspi¬ 
cion, — which  too  frequently  meant  the  animosity  of  an 
evil-disposed  person, — the  minister  would  denounce  her 
by  name  from  the  pulpit,  prohibit  his  parishioners  from 
harboring  her  or  in  any  way  giving  her  succor,  and  exhort 
them  to  give  evidence  against  her.  The  Puritans  had 
conned  well  the  story  of  the  Witch  of  Endor,  and,  with 
their  tendency  to  reproduce  the  Old  Testament  spirit,  felt 
that  the  existence  of  witches  was  an  abomination  in  the 
sight  of  the  Lord,  which  would  bring  divine  wrath  upon 
the  community  that  sheltered  them  unless  the  sin  were 
purged  from  it  by  their  death.  In  this  they  were  but  the 
inheritors  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  from  the  early  ages, 
and  are  liable  to  no  more  serious  censure  for  their  per¬ 
secution ‘of  witches  than  that  which  they  merit  for  the 
vindictive  and  splenetic  spirit  and  the  satisfaction  in 
barbarities  and  cruelty  which  too  often  they  evinced. 

The  persecutions  attendant  upon  witchcraft  are  charge¬ 
able  to  no  one  division  of  the  Church  more  than  to  another, 
for  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  Puritan  as  well  as 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  269 


Prelatist,  felt  that  in  this  work  he  was  fulfilling  the  will  . 
of  God  and  safeguarding  society. .  King  James  I.,  in  his 
Demonology ,  asks:  “What  can  be  the  cause  that  there  are 
twentie  women  given  to  that  craft  where  there  is  only  one 
man?”  He  gives  as  his  reason  for  the  disparity  in  num¬ 
bers  the  greater  frailty  of  women,  which  he  easily  and 
satisfactorily  proves  by  reference  to  the  fall  of  Eve,  as 
marking  the  beginning  of  Satan’s  dominance  of  the  sex. 

In  entering  upon  a  crusade  of  persecution  of  witches, 
the  Puritans  were  in  harmony  with  the  enactments  of  the 
sovereigns  before  the  Commonwealth,  and  were  in  con¬ 
formity  with  the  temper  of  the  times  and  the  universally 
prevailing  belief  of  the  country.  The  austerity  they  as¬ 
sumed  toward  the  sex  in  general  made  it  easy  for  them  to 
believe  that  particular  characters,  given  over  to  vagabond¬ 
age,  were  by  reason  of  their  moral  turpitude  especial  sub¬ 
jects  of  Satan  for  the  temptation  of  men.  With  them,  the 
persecution  of  witches  was  not  solely  a  matter  of  super¬ 
stition,  but  of  public  morals  as  well.  They  were  often 
actuated  by  a  sincere  desire  to  raise  the  standard  of  moral¬ 
ity,  and  to  preserve  order  and  decency.  That  the  women 
rather  than  the  men  should  have  suffered  for  evil  courses 
was  due,  of  course,  to  the  conception  that  moral  reproba¬ 
tion  is  to  be  visited  upon  the  weaker  sex. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  witch¬ 
craft  superstition  became  a  veritable  epidemic,  and  per¬ 
secution  broke  out  in  different  sections  of  the  country. 
Hardly  had  the  stories  of  the  execution  of  witches  in  one 
place  ceased  to  be  a  nine  days’  wonder,  when  the  tongues 
of  the  people  were  busy  with  stories  of  similar  occurrences 
somewhere  else.  An  angry  sailor  threw  a  stone  at  a  boy; 
and  the  boy’s  mother  roundly  cursed  the  assailant  of  her 
offspring,  and  added  the  hope  that  his  fingers  would  rot  off. 
When,  two  years  later,  something  of  the  sort  actually 


270 


WOMAN 


did  happen,  her  imprecation  was  remembered  against  her, 
and  there  was  also  brought  to  light  the  fact  that  a  neigh¬ 
bor  with  whom  she  was  at  odds  had  been  seized  with 
severe  pains  and  felt  her  bed  rocking  up  and  down.  The 
evidence  was  conclusive,  the  woman  must  be  a  witch; 
such  was  the  verdict,  and  death  was  her  sentence.  Two 
women  who  lived  alone,  and,  probably  partly  because  of 
their  solitary  existence,  had  developed  irascible  tempers 
and  demeanors  which  enlisted  the  hearty  dislike  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  fishing  hamlet  near  by,  were  subjected 
to  the  petty  persecutions  in  which  children  instigated  by 
their  parents  are  such  adepts;  finding  existence  too  miser¬ 
able  to  care  very  much  for  their  reputations,  they  en¬ 
dangered  their  security  by  their  attitude  toward  their 
tormentors.  At  last,  nobody  would  even  sell  them  fish, 
and  their  cursing  and  prophecies  of  evil  for  their  enemies 
became  increasingly  violent.  In  the  order  of  nature,  some 
children  were  seized  with  fits,  and,  under  the  inspiration 
of  their  elders,  declared  that  they  saw  the  two  women 
coming  to  torment  them.  After  being  eight  years  under 
accusation,  the  women  were  brought  to  trial,  and  Sir  Mat¬ 
thew  Hale,  the  presiding  judge,  after  expressing  his  belief 
that  the  Scriptures  proved  the  reality  of  witchcraft,  decided 
against  the  unhappy  women  and  condemned  them  to  be 
hanged.  This  occurred  in  1664,  and  constituted  the  cele¬ 
brated  witch  trial  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

These  instances  serve  to  illustrate  the  fate  of  a  vast 
number  of  hapless  women  during  the  seventeenth  cen¬ 
tury;  it  is  said  that  during  the  sittings  of  the  Long  Parlia¬ 
ment  alone,  as  many  as  three  thousand  persons  were 
executed  on  charges  of  witchcraft.  Besides  these  unhappy 
wretches,  a  great  many  more  suffered  the  terrible  fate 
of  mob  violence.  The  frenzied  populace  were  often 
too  impatient  to  await  legal  procedure,  and  stoned  the 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  27 1 


miserable  women  to  death.  In  the  minds  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  people,  such  women  were  not  human 
beings  at  all,  and  so  there  was  no  cruelty  in  treating  them 
with  the  greatest  violence  possible.  Indeed,  such  earnest¬ 
ness  of  purpose  against  the  adversaries  of  God  could  but 
redound,  they  thought,  to  their  eternal  advantage.  After 
all,  was  it  not  a  devil,  who  for  the  time  being  assumed 
human  form,  that  they  were  treating  with  such  violence? 
to-morrow,  the  same  demon  might  be  found  in  a  dog  or  in 
some  other  animal,  or  perhaps  afflicting  with  cholera  the 
swine  of  some  peasant,  to  his  severe  loss.  A  description 
of  a  witch  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  says: 
“  The  devil’s  otter-hound,  living  both  on  land  and  sea,  and 
doing  mischief  in  either;  she  kills  more  beasts  than  a 
licensed  butcher  in  Lent,  yet  is  ne’er  the  fatter;  she’s  but 
a  dry  nurse  in  the  flesh,  yet  gives  such  to  the  spirit.  A 
witch  rides  many  times  post  on  hellish  business,  yet  if  a 
ladder  do  but  stop  her,  she  will  be  hanged  ere  she  goes 
any  further.”  The  penal  statutes  against  witchcraft  were 
not  formally  repealed  until  1751,  when  there  was  closed 
for  England  one  of  the  saddest  chapters  in  the  history  of 
human  mistakes.  The  last  judicial  executions  for  witch¬ 
craft  in  England  were  in  1716. 

In  pleasing  contrast  to  the  unhappy  creatures  who  were 
the  victims  of  fanatical  persecutions  during  the  Com¬ 
monwealth  period — the  women  executed  for  witchcraft — 
stand  the  noble  women  who  were  developed  by  the  stern 
conditions  of  the  Civil  War — the  heroines  of  internecine 
strife.  The  domestic  incidents  of  the  Civil  War  form  an 
interesting  commentary  upon  the  character  of  the  English 
woman,  as  they  reveal  her  in  brave  defence  of  castle  or 
homestead,  patient  in  hardship,  courageous  in  danger,  and 
fertile  in  resources  to  avert  misfortune.  Every  important 
family  was  ranged  on  one  side  or  the  other,  and  the  line 


272 


WOMAN 


of  division  often  passed  through  households.  To  all  other 
issues  which  aroused  human  passion,  or  touched  the 
springs  of  human  character  and  brought  forth  the  reserve 
heroism  of  human  life,  was  added  that  issue  which  stirs 
deepest  the  human  heart,— the  issue  of  religion.  The 
contest  was  not  merely  between  king  and  people:  it  was 
a  contest  as  well  between  the  people  themselves  as  to  the 
form  of  religion  they  desired  as  the  expression  of  their 
faith. 

Under  such  conditions  women  could  not  be  kept  out  of 
the  turmoil  and  the  strife;  perhaps  one  of  the  important 
ends  which  this  distressful  period  brought  about  was  the 
crystallizing  of  the  convictions  of  many  women,  who 
otherwise  would  not  have  thought  or  felt  deeply  upon  that 
subject  which  is  fundamental  to  the  welfare  of  a  nation 
and  the  character  of  its  people, — the  subject  of  religion. 
Royalists  and  Puritans,  the  women  were  arrayed  on  each 
side.  They  followed  the  issues  with  an  earnest  alertness 
born  of  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  causes  involved 
and  their  own  vital  relation  to  the  contest  in  its  results. 

One  of  the  Puritan  women  who  literally  entered  into 
the  fray  was  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  Her  father,  Sir  Allen 
Apsley,  was  governor  of  the  Tower  during  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh’s  incarceration.  It  is  probable  that  Mrs.  Hutchin¬ 
son  had  some  knowledge  of  medicine,  because  during  the 
siege  of  Nottingham  she  was  actively  engaged  in  dressing 
the  soldiers’  wounds  and  furnishing  them  with  drugs  and 
lotions  suitable  to  their  cases,  and  met  with  great  success 
in  her  role  of  physician  even  in  the  cases  of  those  of  some 
who  were  dangerously  wounded.  But  it  was  not  solely  in 
the  character  of  nurse  and  physician  that  she  was  so 
active,  for,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  women  of  the 
town,  after  the  departure  of  the  Royalist  forces,  she  aided 
in  districting  the  city  for  patrols  of  fifty,  the  courageous 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  273 

women  thus  taking  an  active  share  in  the  arduous  duties 
of  the  town’s  defence.  This  intrepid  woman  later  appeared 
in  the  character  of  peacemaker.  The  elections  of  1660 
were  of  a  violent  character,  on  account  of  the  ill  feeling 
between  the  Royalists  of  the  town  and  the  soldiers  of  the 
Commonwealth.  At  the  critical  moment,  Mrs.  Hutchin¬ 
son  arrived,  and,  being  acquainted  with  the  captains, 
persuaded  them  to  countenance  no  tumultuous  methods, 
whatever  might  be  the  provocation,  but  to  make  complaint 
in  regular  form  to  the  general  and  let  him  assume  the 
work  of  preserving  the  peace.  This  they  consented  to  do; 
and  the  townsmen  were  equally  amenable  to  her  wise 
counsel,  and  contracted  to  restrain  their  children  and  ser¬ 
vants  from  endangering  the  peace  of  the  people. 

Courage  and  initiative  were  not  limited  to  the  women 
on  one  side  of  the  contest,  as  is  well  illustrated  by  the 
conduct  of  the  Countess  of  Derby,  who,  in  1643,  made  a 
remarkable  defence  of  Latham  House;  the  countess  was  of 
French  birth  and  had  in  her  veins  the  indomitable  spirit 
of  the  Dutch,  for  she  was  a  descendant  of  Count  William 
of  Nassau.  She  was  called  upon  either  to  yield  up  her 
home  or  to  subscribe  to  the  propositions  of  Parliament, 
and,  upon  her  refusal  to  do  either,  was  besieged  in  her 
castle  and  kept  in  confinement  within  its  walls,  with  no 
larger  range  of  liberty  than  the  castle  yard.  Her  estate 
was  sequestered,  and  she  was  daily  affronted  with  mocking 
and  contemptuous  language.  When  she  was  requested  by 
Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  to  yield  up  the  castle,  she  replied  with 
quiet  dignity  that  she  wondered  how  he  could  exact  such 
a  thing  of  her,  when  she  had  done  nothing  in  the  way  of 
offence  to  Parliament,  and  she  requested  that,  as  the 
matter  affected  both  her  religion  and  her  life,  besides  her 
loyalty  to  her  sovereign  and  to  her  lord,  she  might  have  a 
week’s  consideration  of  the  demand.  She  declined  the 


274 


WOMAN 


proposition  of  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  to  meet  him  at  a  certain 
house  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from  the  castle  for  pur¬ 
poses  of  conference,  saying  that  it  was  more  knightly  that 
he  should  wait  upon  her  than  she  upon  him.  After  further 
parleyings  failed  of  conclusion,  she  finally  sent  a  message 
that  brought  on  a  renewal  of  the  siege.  She  said  that  she 
refused  all  the  propositions  of  the  Parliamentarians,  and 
was  happy  that  they  had  refused  hers,  and  that  she  would 
hazard  her  life  before  again  making  any  overtures:  “  That 
though  a  woman  and  a  stranger,  divorced  from  her  friends 
and  robbed  of  her  estate,  she  was  ready  to  receive  their 
utmost  violence,  trusting  in  God  for  deliverance  and 
protection.’  * 

The  siege  dragged  on  wearily  for  six  or  seven  weeks,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  resigned  his 
post  to  Colonel  Rigby.  The  castle  forces  amounted  to 
three  hundred  soldiers,  while  the  besieging  force  numbered 
between  two  and  three  thousand  men.  In  the  contest  five 
hundred  of  these  were  killed,  while  the  countess  lost  but 
six  of  her  soldiers,  who  were  killed  through  their  own 
negligence.  The  colonel  manufactured  a  number  of  grena- 
does,  and  then  sent  an  ultimatum  to  the  countess,  who 
tore  up  the  paper  and  returned  answer  by  the  messenger 
to  “that  insolent”  [Rigby]  that  he  should  have  neither 
her  person,  goods,  nor  house;  and  as  to  his  grenadoes,  she 
would  find  a  more  merciful  fire,  and,  if  the  providence  of 
God  did  not  order  otherwise,  that  her  house,  her  goods, 
her  children,  and  her  soldiers  would  perish  in  flames  of 
their  own  lighting,  and  so  she  and  her  family  and  defenders 
would  seal  their  religion  and  loyalty.  The  next  morning 
the  countess  caused  a  sally  of  her  forces  to  be  made,  in 
which  they  got  possession  of  the  ditch  and  rampart  and  a 
very  destructive  mortar  which  had  been  used  to  bombard 
the  besieged.  Rigby  wrote  to  his  superiors,  begging 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  275 


assistance  and  saying  that  the  length  of  the  siege  and  the 
hard  duties  it  entailed  had  wearied  all  his  soldiers,  and  that 
he  himself  was  completely  worn  out.  In  the  meanwhile, 
the  Earl  of  Derby  and  Prince  Rupert  made  their  appear¬ 
ance,  and  Rigby  made  a  hurried  retreat;  in  his  endeavor 
to  escape  the  Royalist  forces,  he  fell  into  an  ambush  and 
received  a  severe  punishment  before  he  reached  the  town 
of  Bolton.  Such  were  the  deeds  of  women  of  spirit  upon 
each  side  of  the  civil  conflict;  and  because  of  their  ele¬ 
ments  of  character  and  loyalty  to  conviction,  the  women 
of  the  better  classes  of  England,  irrespective  of  their  affilia¬ 
tions,  mark  a  high  point  of  progress  in  the  sex  toward  the 
goal  of  independence  and  individuality  which  the  civil 
strife  aided  them  to  secure. 

The  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers,  was  one  of  the 
religious  communities  of  the  Commonwealth,  whose  mem¬ 
bers  suffered  grievously  on  account  of  their  religion.  To  the 
lot  of  their  women  fell  an  abundant  share  of  persecutions 
and  martyrdoms;  they  were  scourged,  and  ill  treated  in 
every  conceivable  way.  Their  lives,  inoffensive  and  pure, 
were  a  constant  rebuke  to  those  of  the  loose  livers  about 
them.  Although  Charles  II.  had  promised,  on  coming  to 
the  throne,  that  he  would  befriend  them,  their  miseries 
were  not  greatly  abated.  The  persecution  of  Quaker 
women  had  continued  from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when,  in  the  west  of  England,  Barbara  Blangdon 
was  imprisoned  for  preaching,  and  other  Quakeresses 
were  placed  in  the  stocks  by  the  Mayor  of  Evansham, 
and  also  treated  with  other  indignities.  Throughout  the 
seventeenth  century,  cruel  persecutions  of  women  of  the 
Quaker  persuasion  were  often  repeated. 

With  the  Friends,  the  idea  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel 
was  broadened  so  as  to  include  in  its  preachers  and 
teachers  those  who  possessed  the  necessary  gift,  without 


276 


WOMAN 


regard  to  sex.  Whatever  may  be  individual  opinion  as  to 
woman’s  prerogative  in  this  respect,  there  can  be  no 
manner  of  doubt  but  that  the  advance  in  the  status  of 
woman  which  was  marked  by  the  Society  of  Friends  was 
a  real  contribution  to  the  times  and  a  gift  of  permanent 
value  to  the  English  women  in  general.  Those  women 
who  claimed  the  right  to  preach  were  as  ready  to  suffer  in 
behalf  of  their  ministry.  They  were  scourged,  and  ill 
treated  in  every  possible  way;  Bridewell  Prison  opened  to 
receive  many  within  its  gloomy  interior;  but  they  re¬ 
mained  steadfast  to  the  cardinal  articles  of  their  belief, 
declaring:  “As  we  dare  not  encourage  any  ministry  but 
that  which  we  believe  to  spring  from  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  so  neither  dare  we  to  attempt  to  restrain  this 
ministry  to  persons  of  any  condition  in  life,  or  to  the  male 
sex  alone;  but  as  male  and  female  are  one  in  Christ,  we 
hold  it  proper  that  such  of  the  female  sex  as  we  be¬ 
lieve  to  be  imbued  with  a  right  qualification  of  the  ministry 
should  exercise  their  gifts  for  the  general  edification  of  the 
Church.” 

Having  considered  the  conditions  which  existed  during 
the  period  of  the  Commonwealth  in  England,  and  particu¬ 
larly  the  rise  of  the  Puritan  spirit  and  its  dominance,  as 
related  to  the  women  of  the  times,  it  now  remains  to  bring 
this  period  into  connection  with  that  of  the  Restoration, 
which  offers  to  it  such  a  strong  contrast.  It  is  not  con¬ 
ceivable  that,  if  the  Puritan  leaven  had  so  thoroughly  per¬ 
meated  the  mass  of  the  English  people  as  appeared  to  be 
the  case  upon  the  surface  of  English  society,  there  would 
have  been  so  sudden  and  radical  a  reaction  upon  the  re¬ 
turn  of  Charles  II.  from  his  long  sojourn  abroad.  That  so 
many  who  cried  “  crucify  him  ”  should  now  be  found  with 
“all  hail”  upon  their  lips,  that  women  who  had  assumed 
the  Puritan  twang  and  pious  demeanor  should  throw  off 


WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD  277 


their  assumed  character  and  stand  out  in  their  true  light 
under  the  glare  of  a  court  that  was  brilliant  with  revelry, 
is  evidence  of  the  futility  of  attempting  to  force  ideals  and 
standards  upon  a  people  who  have  not  been  gradually 
developed  to  the  attainment  of  the  qualities  which  they 
are  commanded  to  assume. 

Even  those  women  who  could  not  abide  the  insufferable 
weight  of  piety  which  spread  over  the  period  frequently 
found  it  politic  not  to  antagonize  that  which  formed  the 
very  atmosphere  they  had  to  breathe;  but  these  women 
were  not  shameless  profligates  because  they  could  not 
enter  into  the  intense  introspection  and  the  outward  cir¬ 
cumspection  of  the  Puritan  dame.  When  the  return  of 
Charles  II.  brought  to  the  front  a  code  of  manners  which 
revealed  the  real  morals  of  the  people,  many  women  who 
had  walked  “  circumspectly,”  and  were  not  under  suspi¬ 
cion  of  playing  a  part,  did  not  any  longer  conceal  their  real 
proclivities,  but  stood  forth  as  women  of  pleasure.  The 
Countess  of  Pembroke,  Lady  Crawshaw,  and  Mrs.  Hutch¬ 
inson,  all  ornaments  of  their  sex  during  the  Puritan  regime, 
were  yet  alive  at  the  Restoration,  and  beheld  with  dismay 
the  shameless  performances  of  their  countrywomen. 

As  marking  an  epoch,  Puritanism  is  to  be  regarded  as 
having  destroyed  the  last  relics  of  medievalism.  “  Under 
the  Stuarts,”  says  Creighton,  “society  became  essentially 
modern,  and  many  of  the  institutions  upon  which  the 
comfort  of  modern  life  depends  had  their  origin.” 


. 


■ 


& 

i  ■  I 


. 

’ 


' 

‘ 


■ 

■ 


. 


(tfljapter  Xfif 

aSEomrii  of  tf)r  Mrstoratton  perlotJ 


XII 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD 

“I  STOOD  in  the  Strand  and  beheld  it  and  blessed 
God,”  wrote  John  Evelyn  in  his  Diary,  referring  to  the 
magnificent  pageantry  with  which  Charles  II.,  on  return¬ 
ing  from  his  exile  in  France,  was  received  by  the  London 
populace.  With  this  pious  ejaculation,  the  courtly  Royal¬ 
ist  welcomed  the  presence  in  England  of  that  scion  of  the 
house  of  Stuart  whose  reign  of  profligacy  was  to  mark  his 
period  as  one  of  the  most  reprehensible  in  the  history  of 
the  country.  It  is  little  wonder  that  Charles  was  so  af¬ 
fected  by  the  great  demonstration  in  his  honor  that  he 
marvelled  that  he  should  have  remained  away  from  the 
country  so  long  when  the  people  were  languishing  for  his 
return.  The  manner  with  which  London  threw  off  its 
garb  of  Puritanical  gray  and  manners  grave,  and  donned 
bright  attire  and  assumed  the  airs  of  gayety  and  frivolity, 
showed  how  insincere  and  superficial  was  the  religious 
seriousness  which  had  been  worn  as  suited  to  the  temper 
and  times  of  the  austere  Protector. 

The  change  was  not  so  sudden  but  that  it  had  begun  to 
appear  during  the  weak  rule  of  the  second  Cromwell — 
Richard.  But  the  spontaneousness  with  which  the  people 
welcomed  Charles  in  all  the  towns  through  which  he 
passed  on  his  way,  and  the  abandonment  and  joyousness 
which  spread  over  the  land,  signalized  one  of  the  most 

281 


2  82 


WOMAN 


important  reactions  which  have  occurred  in  public  senti¬ 
ment  and  public  morals  of  any  age.  Music,  dancing, 
revelry,  and  license  suddenly  wrenched  the  times  from  all 
their  wonted  decorum,  and  in  the  flood  tide  of  pleasure 
and  frivolity  were  borne  away  many  who  had  long  sub¬ 
sisted  upon  their  reputations  for  peculiar  piety.  Not  only 
did  the  leopard  who  had  changed  his  spots,  and  the  Ethio¬ 
pian  his  skin,  for  political  purposes  when  the  Civil  War 
bore  the  Puritans  into  power,  return  to  their  real  mark¬ 
ings,  but  great  numbers  of  those  who  had  sustained  their 
Puritanical  professions  with  greater  or  lesser  degrees  of 
sincerity  and  earnestness  caught  the  maddening  thrill  of 
levity  with  which  the  very  atmosphere  seemed  surcharged, 
and  rapidly  passed  down  the  gradations  of  character  into 
recklessness  and  vice. 

The  Royalists  were  well  prepared  for  the  change  from 
piety  to  profligacy,  and  hailed  the  advent  of  the  light¬ 
hearted  monarch  as  a  veritable  release  of  souls  in  prison. 
During  the  Commonwealth,  the  wretchedness  of  their 
condition  had  wrought  the  widespread  depravity  which 
existed  among  them.  The  uncertainty  of  their  fortunes 
and  the  necessity  of  often  meeting  together  made  them 
habitues  of  the  taverns,  which  were  the  centres  for  social 
intercourse;  and  it  may  have  been  thus  that  the  habit  of 
excessive  drinking,  so  prevalent  in  this  period,  was  con¬ 
tracted.  Upon  the  principle  that  no  one  gives  serious 
heed  to  the  doings  of  a  drunkard,  abandoned  and  dissolute 
habits  were  looked  upon  by  the  Royalist  plotters  as  a 
safeguard  for  themselves  and  a  security  to  their  plans: 

“  Come,  fill  my  cup,  until  it  swim 
With  foam  that  overlooks  the  brim. 

Who  drinks  the  deepest  ?  Here’s  to  him. 

Sobriety  and  study  breeds 
Suspicion  in  our  acts  and  deeds ; 

The  downright  drunkard  no  man  heeds.” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  283 


The  very  vices,  however,  which  the  Royalists  acknowl¬ 
edged  having  been  led  to  cultivate  by  their  “pride,  pov¬ 
erty,  and  passion”  were  imitated  by  the  baser  element 
among  the  Puritans  when  the  Cavaliers  became  trium¬ 
phant.  Those  who  formerly  had  boasted  that  they  “would 
as  soon  cut  a  Cavalier’s  throat  as  swear  an  oath,  and 
esteem  it  a  less  sin,”  now  assumed  the  role  of  sinners  as 
complacently  as  they  had  previously  played  the  part  of 
saints. 

A  period  of  industrial  depression  subtracts,  in  the  esti¬ 
mation  of  the  people,  from  the  merits  of  a  government, 
however  noble  may  be  its  policy;  and  for  twenty  years 
previous  to  the  Restoration  the  condition  of  the  masses  of 
the  people  had  steadily  been  growing  worse,  so  that  there 
was  a  widespread  longing  for  more  provisions  and  less 
piety.  Before  the  Civil  War,  the  state  of  the  people  had 
reached  high-water  mark;  so  vast  had  been  the  increase 
of  England’s  commerce,  owing  to  the  strife  among  the 
neighboring  powers,  that  the  revenue  from  customs  had 
almost  doubled,  and  the  blessings  of  prosperity  were  felt 
among  all  classes.  Sir  Philip  Warwick  even  asks  us  to 
believe  that  there  was  scarcely  any  cobbler  in  London 
whose  wife  did  not  include  a  silver  beaker  among  the 
furnishings  of  her  modest  sideboard.  During  the  Com¬ 
monwealth,  pauperism  increased  to  an  alarming  extent,  so 
that  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  Charles  ten  thousand 
men  and  women  were  languishing  in  the  debtors’  prisons, 
and  thousands  of  others  were  living  in  continual  dread  of 
the  sheriff’s  executions. 

The  condition  of  English  society  at  the  coming  of 
Charles  II.  explains  somewhat  the  tremendous  outburst 
of  popular  enthusiasm  with  which  that  event  was  greeted. 
The  people  on  the  village  green  received  him  with  morris 
dances  to  the  music  of  pipe  and  tabor,  and  with  other 


284 


WOMAN 


rustic  festivities  which  for  so  long  a  time  had  been  ban¬ 
ished  as  sinful  engagements.  At  some  of  the  towns 
through  which  the  triumphal  procession  passed,  young 
damsels  to  the  number  of  hundreds  lined  the  way  and 
strewed  flowers  in  the  path  of  the  king.  The  women 
were  especially  noticeable  for  their  active  participation  in 
all  the  popular  demonstrations.  It  was  as  if  they  had  felt 
so  heavily  the  repression  of  the  rigorous  theocracy  of 
Cromwell  that  they  were  ready  to  accept  to  the  fullest 
the  pledge  of  better  times  which  the  return  of  Charles 
gave  them,  and  to  pass  from  fuller  liberty  into  the  wildest 
license.  The  king  himself,  by  his  own  example,  lost  no 
time  in  establishing  the  new  standards  of  conduct.  Even 
the  reckless  spirit  of  the  Londoners  was  somewhat  sur¬ 
prised  when  it  was  bruited  abroad  that  the  king,  who  was 
received  as  a  Divine  dispensation  to  a  waiting  people,  had 
slunk  out  of  the  palace  the  first  night  after  his  return, 
under  cover  of  darkness,  in  the  furtherance  of  one  of  the 
unsavory  intrigues  which  made  his  life  and  his  court 
notorious  in  the  annals  of  English  history.  The  sensibili¬ 
ties  of  the  English  people  were  not  seriously  shocked, 
however, — we  are  speaking  of  the  Royalist  following  and 
not  of  the  Puritans, — and  in  the  rebound  from  the  first 
amazement  at  the  revelation  they  received  of  the  kingly 
character,  they  were  ready  to  follow  his  lead;  and  so  Eng¬ 
lish  social  life  during  the  reign  of  Charles  was  greatly 
corrupted.  As  the  key  to  the  times  is  to  be  sought  in  the 
tone  of  the  court,  the  unwelcome  task  must  be  fulfilled  in 
the  interests  of  history,  as  it  relates  to  woman,  of  setting 
forth  the  actual  conditions  which  were  instituted  and  pre¬ 
vailed  at  the  court  of  Charles  II. 

The  king  came  to  England  fresh  from  the  court  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  tainted  by  all  the  vices  which  made  that 
court  infamous.  For  the  first  time,  England  became  widely 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  285 


affected  by  the  gross  iniquities  which  had  for  a  long  while 
been  a  familiar  fact  of  the  noble  circles  of  French  society. 
So  long  as  England  imported  from  France  only  its  dress 
goods,  jewelry,  and  novelties,  the  influence  exerted  upon 
it  by  its  continental  neighbor  touched  society  in  only  a 
superficial  way;  but  when  England’s  “  Merrie  Monarch” 
brought  over  with  him  the  low  standard  of  French  morals, 
England  paid  tribute  to  France  in  a  more  serious  way  and 
modelled  its  conduct  after  that  of  the  more  frivolous  people. 
The  reign  of  Charles  brings  to  view  as  the  principal  fact 
of  the  times  the  personality  of  the  monarch  himself,  not 
because  he  was  a  strong  man,  but  because  he  was  so 
thoroughly  weak  in  his  character  and  abandoned  in  his 
conduct.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  political  or  consti¬ 
tutional  measures,  but,  in  passing  judgment  upon  the  state 
of  society,  we  are  constrained  to  say  that  the  reign  of 
King  Charles  marked  a  distinct  retrogression,  and,  in  its 
effect  upon  the  status  of  woman,  is  notable  for  the  dis¬ 
tinction  it  bestowed  upon  the  courtesan. class.  The  honor¬ 
ing  of  such  characters  discounted  greatly  the  gain  for  the 
higher  ideals  of  womanhood  which  had  been  secured  by 
the  Puritans. 

The  woman  whom  Charles  had  signalized  by  his  favor 
immediately  upon  his  entrance  into  London  was  known 
simply  as  Barbara  Palmer  until,  by  the  ratio  of  her  decline 
in  morals,  she  was  elevated  in  honors  and  received  the 
titles  of  Countess  of  Castlemaine  and  Duchess  of  Cleve¬ 
land.  It  needs  not  the  saying  that  beauty  and  graces  of 
manner  and  of  form  were  her  chief  recommendations  to 
the  royal  notice.  This  woman,  who  became  notorious 
throughout  England, — and  who,  upon  the  retirement  of 
Clarendon,  whose  dismissal  she  had  secured,  stood  upon 
the  balcony  of  the  palace  in  her  night  attire  to  rain  down 
upon  his  head  curses  and  vile  epithets, — was  the  woman 


286 


WOMAN 


who,  through  her  influence  over  Charles,  occupied  a  com¬ 
manding  position  in  England.  Her  amours  before  coming 
under  the  royal  notice  absolve  the  king  from  responsi¬ 
bility  for  her  moral  ruin,  but  the  offence  of  thrusting  her 
before  the  English  people  and  the  contamination  exerted 
upon  society  by  her  presence  and  conduct  at  court  are 
what  make  up  the  indictment  of  womanhood  against  him. 
Although  many  glimpses  are  afforded  in  the  gossipy  news  of 
the  corrupt  court  of  this  courtesan’s  imperious  domination 
of  Charles,  nowhere  is  the  story  told  more  simply  than  by 
Pepys  in  his  Diary.  He  says:  “Mr.  Pierce,  the  surgeon, 
tells  me  that,  though  the  king  and  my  Lady  Castlemaine 
are  friends  again,  she  is  not  at  White  Hall,  but  at  Sir  D. 
Harvey’s,  whither  the  king  goes  to  her;  but  she  says  she 
made  him  ask  her  forgiveness  upon  his  knees,  and  promise 
to  offend  her  no  more  so,  and  that  indeed  she  hath  nearly 
hectored  him  out  of  his  wits.” 

Such  incidents  were  not  confined  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  court  circles,  but  percolated  all  classes  of  society,  and 
not  only  furnished  the  newsmongers  with  racy  scandal, 
but  set  in  a  whirl  the  light  heads  of  many  foolish  women 
who  without  such  incitement  from  court  example  might 
have  remained  models  of  virtue. 

Another  of  the  king’s  favorites — and  indeed  one  who 
was,  unlike  the  disagreeable  countess,  a  favorite  as  well 
with  the  English  people,  and  whose  name  has  not  yet  lost 
its  popularity — was  Nell  Gwynn.  Pretty,  witty,  and  open- 
hearted,  her  face  an  index  of  the  simplicity  and  purity  of 
character  which  the  unfortunate  circumstances  of  her  birth 
and  bringing-up  denied  her,  a  veritable  gem  of  womankind 
lost  amid  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  a  coarse  age,  she  is  to 
be  regarded  less  as  a  sinner  than  as  one  sinned  against, 
although  she  herself,  perhaps,  seldom  paused  to  reflect 
upon  the  moral  value  of  her  actions. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  287 


“  How  sweet  and  lovely  dost  thou  make  the  shame 
Which,  like  the  canker  in  a  fragrant  rose, 

Doth  spot  the  beauty  of  thy  budding  name.” 

It  will  not  do  to  judge  too  harshly  the  character  of  one 
whose  whole  conduct  showed  how  essentially  guileless  and 
gentle,  as  well  as  generous,  were  her  instincts  by  the 
rigorous  standards  which,  however  severe,  are  none  too 
exacting  to  be  held  up  for  women  as  representing  the  only 
possible  assurance  of  security  for  the  status  which  they 
have  attained;  but  it  is  in  no  spirit  of  apology  for  her 
wrong  courses  that  all  who  undertake  to  discuss  the  life 
of  Nell  Gwynn  are  irresistibly  drawn  to  a  recital  of  her 
virtues  rather  than  to  a  reprobation  of  her  faults. 

The  poor  orange  girl,  who,  according  to  some  authori¬ 
ties,  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  a  miserable  coalyard 
garret  in  Drury  Lane,  and  whose  tutelage  was  the  vulgar¬ 
ity  of  the  London  streets,  and  her  training  a  barroom 
where  she  entertained  the  patrons  by  the  sweetness  of 
her  voice,  courtesan  though  she  became  in  the  court  of 
Charles  II.,  yet  numbered  among  her  descendants  Lord 
James  Beauclerk,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  who  died  in  1782. 
Nor  was  she  associated  with  religion  merely  in  this  remote 
way,  for  she  herself,  as  patroness  of  Chelsea  Hospital, 
and  promoter  of  many  charities  and  the  dispenser  of  pri¬ 
vate  benefactions,  may  reasonably  claim  consideration  in 
her  own  behalf  as  a  woman  instinct  with  all  the  virtues 
saving  one  only, — the  one  she  had  never  had  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  possess.  The  effect  of  Nell  Gwynn’s  presence 
at  court  upon  the  minds  of  the  populace  was  in  some 
respects  more  insidious  than  that  of  the  professional  cour¬ 
tesan  Castlemaine,  for,  by  the  pleasing  philosophy  of  her 
winsome  nature,  the  vices  of  the  court  became  transmuted 
into  pure  gold  in  the  estimation  of  the  young  women  who 
were  affected. by  her  as  their  ideal. 


288 


WOMAN 


When  the  irascible  temper  of  the  Duchess  of  Cleveland 
became  too  intolerable  to  be  borne,  the  king’s  excitable 
fancy  was  adroitly  directed  by  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
English  envoy  to  the  court  of  France,  to  Mademoiselle  de 
Queroualle,  whom  he  planned  to  set  up  as  a  rival  to  her 
in  the  king’s  affections,  and  thus  to  further  his  own  ambi¬ 
tious  ends,  which  were  antagonized  by  the  duchess.  Thus 
to  place  in  control  of  the  king’s  volatile  sentiments  the 
seductive  French  woman,  who  would  represent  the  duke’s 
interests,  seemed  a  veritable  stroke  of  masterful  politics  of 
a  character  not  unworthy  of  Machiavel  himself.  It  was 
not  difficult  to  persuade  Louis  that  such  a  sentimental 
alliance  would  cement  Charles  to  the  French  interests; 
and  as  the  project  would  save  her  from  a  French  convent, 
mademoiselle  was  not  found  intractable.  A  decorous  in¬ 
vitation,  so  worded  as  to  spare  the  blush  of  the  lady’s 
modesty,  was  sent  from  the  English  court,  and  she  was 
forthwith  despatched  to  the  court  of  Charles  to  fulfil  the 
double  roles  of  courtesan  and  diplomat,  which  were  so 
often  combined  in  the  person  of  astute  females.  Her  ap¬ 
pearance  at  court  was  hailed  by  Dryden,  the  court  poet,  in 
some  complimentary  stanzas  of  indifferent  worth.  Evelyn 
recorded  in  his  Diary  that  he  had  seen  “that  famous 
beauty,  the  new  French  Maid  of  Honor”;  but  adds:  “In 
my  opinion,  she  is  of  a  childish,  simple,  and  baby  face.” 
After  the  birth  of  a  son  to  the  king,  who  was  created 
Duke  of  Richmond  and  Earl  of  Marsh  in  England,  Made¬ 
moiselle  de  Queroualle  was  made  Duchess  of  Portsmouth. 
At  the  same  time,  she  was  drawing  a  considerable  pension 
from  Louis  in  recognition  of  her  services  to  France.  The 
noble-minded  English  gentleman  Evelyn  records  the  ex¬ 
travagant  tastes  of  the  duchess,  whose  control  over  the 
king  had  become  unbounded,  in  these  words:  “Following 
his  Majesty  this  morning  through  the  gallery,  I  went  with 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  289 

the  few  who  attended  him  into  the  Duchess  of  Ports¬ 
mouth’s  dressing-room,  within  her  bed-chamber,  where  she 
was  in  her  loose  morning  garment,  her  maids  combing  her, 
newly  out  of  her  bed,  his  Majesty  and  the  gallants  stand¬ 
ing  about  her;  but  that  which  engaged  my  curiosity  was 
the  rich  and  splendid  furniture  of  this  woman’s  apartment, 
now  twice  or  thrice  pulled  down  and  rebuilt  to  satisfy  her 
prodigality  and  expensive  pleasures,  while  her  Majesty’s 
does  not  exceed  some  gentlemen’s  wives’  in  furniture  and 
accommodations.  Here  I  saw  the  new  fabric  of  French 
tapestry,  for  design,  tenderness  of  work,  and  incomparable 
imitation  of  the  best  paintings,  beyond  anything  I  had  ever 
beheld.  Some  pieces  had  Versailles,  St.  Germaines,  and 
other  places  of  the  French  king,  with  huntings,  figures, 
and  landscapes,  exotic  fowls,  and  all  to  the  life  rarely 
done.  Then  the  Japan  cabinets,  screens,  pendule  clocks, 
great  vases  of  wrought  plate,  tables,  stands,  chimney 
furniture,  sconces,  branches,  brasures,  and  all  of  massive 
silver,  and  out  of  number;  besides  of  his  Majesty’s  best 
paintings.  Surfeiting  of  this,  I  dined  at  Sir  Stephen  Fox’s, 
and  went  contented  home  to  my  poor  but  quiet  villa. 
What  contentment  can  there  be  in  the  riches  and  splen¬ 
dour  of  this  world,  purchased  with  vice  and  dishonour!” 

“  There  was,  in  truth,  little  of  contentment  within  those 
sumptuous  walls;”  a  weak  queen  helpless  under  the  in¬ 
dignities  imposed  upon  her,  a  duchess  burning  with  pas¬ 
sionate  resentment,  and  light-hearted  Nell  Gwynn  laughing 
with  amusement;  a  group  of  courtiers  and  courtesans  with 
little  sense  of  honor,  tossed  about  by  conflicting  emotions 
of  fear  and  jealousy,  perplexity  and  heartaches;  involved  in 
disgraceful  intrigues  and  malicious  conspiracies;  attended 
by  all  the  demons  which  wait  upon  the  mind  that  has  sold 
itself  to  sordidness  and  sin;  mocked  at  by  a  troupe  of  per¬ 
fidious  spirits  of  pride,  avarice,  and  ambition — such  was 


290 


WOMAN 


the  company  within  the  palace  walls  that  opened  to  receive 
the  woman  who  was  to  be,  if  possible,  the  most  despicable 
of  them  all,  and  certainly  the  most  detested. 

In  pleasing  contrast  to  the  fashionable  and  often  brilliant 
debauchees  of  the  court  of  Charles  II.  may  be  placed  the 
Countess  de  Grammont,  to  whom  the  description  of  the 
poet  Fletcher  applies: 

“A  woman  of  that  rare  behaviour, 

So  qualified,  that  admiration 

Dwells  round  about  her ;  of  that  perfect  spirit, 

That  admirable  carriage, 

That  sweetness  in  discourse — young  as  the  morning, 

Her  blushes  staining  his.” 

She  moved  in  the  profligate  sphere  of  the  English  court, 
and  later  in  that  of  France,  without  for  a  moment  having 
the  brilliancy  of  her  intellect,  the  acuteness  of  her  wit, 
or  the  whiteness  of  her  character  tarnished  by  vulgarity 
of  action  or  of  word.  Importuned  by  lovers  of  high  degree 
for  alliances  that  were  not  regarded  as  compromising  in 
that  gay  atmosphere,  and,  when  it  was  found  futile  to  seek 
to  entice  her  into  an  equivocal  position,  as  ardently  sought 
by  the  beaux  for  the  honorable  relation  of  wife,  she  held 
them  all  at  arm’s  length.  Strong  and  resolute,  she,  like  a 
brilliant  moth,  circled  about  the  passionate  flame  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  court  without  singeing  her  wings,  neither  did  she  seek, 
by  an  adventitious  flame  of  responsive  passion,  to  draw  on 
to  haplessness  any  of  the  courtiers  who  sought  her  with 
ardent  protestations  of  affection.  Though  light-hearted 
and  vivacious,  she  had  none  of  the  arts  of  a  coquette;  but 
when  the  persistence  of  the  Comte  de  Grammont  con¬ 
vinced  her,  in  spite  of  the  scepticism  which  her  surround¬ 
ings  created,  and  of  his  known  character  of  frivolity,  that 
in  him  she  might  find  a  faithful  and  devoted  husband,  she 
allowed  her  heart  to  hold  sway  of  her  destiny  and  yielded 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  29 1 


herself  in  marriage  to  him.  It  had  been  better  for  her, 
however,  if  she  had  remained  a  maid  of  honor  than  to 
have  become,  by  marriage  to  an  unprincipled  man,  a  wife 
of  dishonor.  The  exceptional  worth  of  character,  the 
brilliancy  of  intellect,  and  the  steadiness  of  purpose  which 
La  Belle  Hamilton  exhibited,  did  not,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
voluptuous  count,  constitute  a  charm  sufficient  to  wean 
him  from  his  evil  courses  to  a  life  of  consistency  and  of 
uprightness.  Her  husband  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  yet 
she  survived  him  a  brief  while.  Her  brother  has  left  us  a 
word  picture  of  her  at  about  the  time  of  her  introduction 
to  the  court  of  Charles  II.,  which,  in  connection  with  her 
portrait  by  Sir  Peter  Lely,  leaves  no  doubt  of  her  match¬ 
less  charms.  He  says:  “Her  forehead  was  open,  white, 
and  smooth;  her  hair  was  well  set,  and  fell  with  ease  into 
that  natural  order  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  imitate.  Her 
complexion  was  possessed  of  a  certain  freshness  not  to  be 
equalled  by  borrowed  colours;  her  eyes  were  not  large, 
but  they  were  lovely,  and  capable  of  expressing  whatever 
she  pleased;  her  mouth  was  full  of  graces,  and  her  contour 
uncommonly  perfect;  nor  was  her  nose,  which  was  small, 
delicate,  and  turned-up,  the  least  ornament  of  so  lovely  a 
face.  She  had  the  finest  shape,  the  loveliest  neck,  and 
most  beautiful  arms  in  the  world;  she  was  majestic  and 
graceful  in  all  her  movements;  and  she  was  the  original 
after  which  all  the  ladies  copied  in  their  tastes  and  air  of 
dress.” 

In  reading  the  memoirs  of  the  court  of  Charles  II.,  one 
is  apt  to  overlook  the  fact  that  at  the  period  there  was  a 
queen  in  England.  There  was  a  time  when  the  consort 
of  the  king  was  not  so  styled;  her  position  was  a  personal 
one,  as  related  to  her  husband,  but  she  did  not  share  the 
honors  of  the  throne.  How  strangely  reversed  since  the 
later  Anglo-Saxon  period,  as  contrasted  with  the  reign  of 


292 


WOMAN 


Charles  II.,  had  become  the  relation  of  the  wife  of  the 
monarch!  for  in  these  last  times  the  full  recognition  was 
tendered  Catherine  of  Braganza  to  which  her  position  as 
consort  of  Charles  gave  her  title — there  was  no  question 
as  to  there  being  a  queen  in  England  in  the  full  meaning 
of  the  term.  But  her  personal  relation  to  the  king  as  her 
husband  was  an  equivocal  one;  perhaps  once  in  a  month 
he  might  honor  her  with  his  presence  at  supper,  and 
occasionally  absent  himself  from  the  enticements  of  his 
mistresses.  It  was  so  from  the  very  first;  for,  before 
Catherine  had  landed  in  England,  the  intrigue  of  Charles  II. 
with  the  notorious  Castlemaine  was  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge.  The  graceless  king  had  the  effrontery  to  in¬ 
clude  Lady  Castlemaine  in  the  list  of  appointees  for  the 
queen’s  following.  The  indignant  bride  had  not  yet  learned 
the  futility  of  seeking  to  assert  her  rightful  position,  and, 
haughtily  declaring  that  she  would  return  to  her  own 
country  rather  than  submit  to  such  an  indignity,  drew  her 
pen  across  the  name  and  swept  Lady  Castlemaine  from 
proximity  to  her  person.  In  so  doing  she  incurred  the 
deeper  enmity  of  the  female  fury  who  ruled  Charles  with 
an  iron  will  and  was  for  long  years  to  be  the  queen’s  evil 
genius.  The  queen  was  not  brilliant,  but  she  was  in  every 
sense  a  woman;  and  when  on  a  particular  occasion,  simi¬ 
lar  to  a  present-day  drawing  room,  Lady  Castlemaine  was 
introduced  by  the  king,  the  queen,  who  did  not  know  her 
and  imperfectly  caught  the  name,  received  her  with  grace 
and  benignity;  but  realizing  in  a  moment  who  it  was,  she 
became  transformed,  her  urbanity  disappeared,  and,  fully 
alive  to  the  insult  which  had  been  publicly  offered  her,  she 
was  swept  with  a  wave  of  passion:  “She  started  from  her 
chair,  turned  as  pale  as  ashes,  then  red  with  shame  and 
anger,  the  blood  gushed  from  her  nose,  and  she  swooned 
in  the  arms  of  her  women.”  Lord  Clarendon,  who  was  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  293 


witness  of  the  contest  between  the  wife  and  mistress  and 
sought  to  prevent  the  king  from  becoming  controlled  by 
the  latter,  finally  absented  himself  from  court;  thereupon 
the  king  wrote  him  a  letter  in  which,  after  declaring  his 
purpose  of  making  Lady  Castlemaine  a  lady  of  his  wife’s 
bedchamber,  he  added:  “And  whosoever  I  find  to  be  my 
Lady  Castlemaine’s  enemy,  I  do  promise  upon  my  word 
to  be  his  enemy  as  long  as  I  live.”  The  king’s  missive 
had  its  effect;  and  Lord  Clarendon  undertook  to  persuade 
the  queen  to  bear  the  indignity,  although  he  had  replied 
to  the  king  that  it  was  “more  than  flesh  and  blood  could 
comply  with,”  and  reminded  him  of  the  difference  between 
the  French  and  English  courts:  “That  in  the  former,  such 
connections  were  not  new  and  scandalous,  whereas  in 
England  they  were  so  unheard  of,  and  so  odious,  that  the 
mistress  of  the  king  was  infamous  to  all  women  of  honour.” 

The  king  himself  succeeded  better  in  reconciling  the 
queen  to  the  shameful  situation  than  did  his  minister,  for, 
after  several  scenes  between  them,  he  treated  her  with 
studied  coldness  and  indifference,  and  in  her  presence 
assumed  an  air  of  exceptional  gayety  toward  all  other 
women.  The  unhappy  queen  finally  acquiesced  in  a  situ¬ 
ation  which  she  could  not  improve,  and  suffered  much 
greater  indignities  than  those  which  she  had  futilely  re¬ 
sented.  There  is  little  more  of  interest  to  add  with  regard 
to  this  woman,  whose  position  placed  her  first  at  court, 
but  who  really  was  regarded  by  the  king  and  his  courtiers 
as  the  most  insignificant  of  its  personages.  She  never 
quite  gave  up  the  hope  that  she  might  win  at  least  a  share 
of  the  affection  which  her  husband  bestowed  upon  others, 
and  to  that  end  she  eventually  laid  aside  her  retiring  ways, 
dressed  decollete,  and  gave  magnificent  balls,  to  which  she 
invited  the  fairest  women  of  the  nobility,  thus  seeking,  by 
humoring  the  fancy  of  her  husband,  to  gain  his  love. 


294 


WOMAN 


The  maids  of  honor  at  the  court  of  Charles,  who  were 
for  the  most  part  mistresses  of  the  king  and  of  the  court¬ 
iers,  and  the  male  sycophants,  whose  only  pursuit  in  life 
was  intrigue,  made  a  choice  group  of  profligate  spirits, 
who,  without  any  restraint,  but  with  every  encourage¬ 
ment  from  their  royal  master,  assiduously  furthered  the 
chief  interest  of  their  existence. 

There  are  not  wanting  those  who  utterly  disparage  the 
morals  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  affirm  that  both  Crom¬ 
well  and  his  followers  generally  were  guilty  of  as  base 
conduct  as  King  Charles  and  his  courtiers,  and  that  the 
only  difference  was  that  which  exists  between  covert  and 
open  practices  of  an  evil  nature.  The  fact  remains,  how¬ 
ever,  that  even  down  to  the  present  day  the  English 
people,  and  the  American  as  well,  are  inheritors  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Puritans,  to  the  great  good  of  society.  It  was 
the  Puritans  who  taught  reverence  for  the  Sabbath  and 
made  the  Bible  a  common  textbook  of  life;  and  although 
they  were  strict  and  narrow  in  their  views,  earnestness 
always  is  straitened  in  its  bounds  until  it  bursts  them  and 
floods  society  with  the  power  of  the  principles  it  advocates. 

The  apologists  for  King  Charles,  who  hold  to  the  ancient 
formula  of  the  faith  of  the  Fathers  and  of  the  Puritans, — 
that  woman  from  the  days  of  Eden  unto  the  present  time 
has  stood  for  the  downfall  of  man, — seek  to  enlist  sym¬ 
pathy  for  him  by  saying  that  in  his  various  peccadilloes 
the  women  seemed  to  be  the  aggressors.  This  plea,  which 
was  advanced  by  his  friendly  contemporaries,  who  sought 
to  whitewash  the  outside  of  the  sepulchre  of  the  king’s 
character  while  leaving  undisturbed  the  inward  corruption, 
is  still  gravely  repeated  by  partisan  historians  to-day.  Sir 
John  Reresby  said:  “  I  have  since  heard  the  King  say  they 
would  sometimes  offer  themselves  to  his  embrace.”  It  is 
unfortunate  that  the  integrity  of  the  chivalrous  king  should 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  295 


have  suffered  such  assaults;  but  as  no  other  English  monarch 
seems  to  have  been  so  desperately  set  upon  to  his  destruc¬ 
tion  by  the  women  of  his  times,  it  may  not  be  too  great  a 
piece  of  temerity  to  put  in  a  plea  for  the  women  of  the 
reign  of  the  glorious  Charles  II.  by  suggesting  the  bare 
possibility  that  all  the  moral  probity  was  not  possessed 
alone  by  him  who  reigned  King  of  England! 

We  can  much  better  accept  the  description  of  society 
given  by  Clarendon,  jit  is  not,  however,  to  be  taken  as 
an  index  to  the  innate  perversity  of  woman  in  wicked 
ways,  but  as  indicating  the  natural  effect  of  the  lowering 
of  the  esteem  in  which  the  sex  was  held  by  the  evil  liv¬ 
ing  of  men  in  the  higher  circles  of  society.;,  Yet  not  all  the 
indictments  which  are  brought  forward  by  Clarendon 
would  be  considered  to-day  as  of  a  serious  nature.  He 
comments:  “The  young  women  conversed  without  any 
circumspection  of  modesty,  and  frequently  met  at  taverns 
and  common  eating-houses;  they  who  were  stricter  and 
more  severe  in  their  comportment  became  the  wives  of 
the  seditious  preachers  or  of  officers  of  the  army.  The 
daughters  of  noble  and  illustrious  families  bestowed  them¬ 
selves  upon  the  divines  of  the  time,  or  other  low  and 
unequal  matches.  Parents  had  no  manner  of  authority 
over  their  children,  nor  children  any  obedience  or  submis¬ 
sion  to  their  parents,  but  every  one  did  that  which  was 
good  in  his  own  eyes.” 

That  the  change  in  the  feminine  character  was  not  sim¬ 
ply  due  to  the  unsettled  state  of  society  from  the  Civil 
War,  which  undoubtedly  did  affect  the  standard  of  the 
times,  but  was  attributable  more  largely  to  the  imported 
French  manners  with  which  Charles  made  the  nation 
familiar,  is  beyond  doubt.  Peter  Heylin,  who  had  trav¬ 
elled  in  France  and  published  an  account  of  his  observa¬ 
tions,  and  who  was  led  to  pass  severe  strictures  upon  the 


296 


WOMAN 


conduct  of  the  French  women,  modified  his  gratulatory 
expressions  with  regard  to  English  women  as  follows: 
“  Our  English  women,  at  that  time,  were  of  a  more  retired 
behaviour  than  they  have  been  since,  which  made  the  con¬ 
fident  carriage  of  the  French  damsels  seem  more  strange  to 
me;  whereas  of  late  the  garb  of  our  women  is  so  altered, 
and  they  have  in  them  so  much  of  the  mode  of  France,  as 
easily  might  take  off  those  misapprehensions  with  which 
I  was  possessed  at  my  first  coming  thither.’ ’ 

It  was  not  until  after  the  death  of  the  king,  which 
occurred  on  February  6,  1685,  that  the  nation  recovered 
from  the  spell  of  debauchery  through  which  it  had  passed, 
and  assumed  its  wonted  sobriety.  Seven  days  prior, 
Evelyn  wrote  in  his  Diary:  “I  saw  this  evening  such  a 
scene  of  profuse  gaming,  and  the  king  in  the  midst  of  his 
three  concubines,  as  I  had  never  before  seen,  luxurious 
dallying  and  profaneness.”  After  the  death  of  Charles 
and  the  proclamation  of  James  II.,  he  reverted  again  to 
that  scene  and  said:  “  I  can  never  forget  the  inexpressible 
luxury  and  profaneness,  gaming  and  all  dissoluteness,  and, 
as  it  were,  total  forgetfulness  of  God  (it  being  Sunday 
evening)  which  this  day  se’nnight  I  was  witness  to,  the 
king  sitting  and  toying  with  his  concubines — Portsmouth, 
Cleveland,  Mazarine,  etc. — a  French  boy  singing  love 
songs  in  that  glorious  gallery,  whilst  about  twenty  of  the 
great  courtiers  and  other  dissolute  persons  were  at  basset 
round  a  large  table,  a  bank  of  at  least  2000  pounds  in  gold 
before  them,  upon  which  two  gentlemen  who  were  with 
me  made  reflexions  with  astonishment.  Six  days  after 
was  all  in  the  dust!” 

Although  the  monarch  who  made  England  merry  with 
all  sorts  of  frivolities  had  passed  away,  the  influences  of 
his  life  did  not  quickly  cease.  One  of  the  social  changes 
which  came  about  in  his  reign  was  destined  to  become  very 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  297 

widely  extended  and  to  have  an  important  bearing  upon 
the  structure  of  English  society.  This  was  the  introduction 
of  women  upon  the  stage.  In  discussing  the  amusements 
of  the  English  people  in  the  several  periods,  we  have  as 
yet  said  nothing  with  regard  to  the  theatre,  because  it  did 
not  relate  to  woman  in  an  especial  manner.  The  old 
mediaeval  mystery  and  morality  plays  were  given  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Church,  and  formed  a  part  of  the  reli¬ 
gious  instruction  of  a  people  who  neither  knew  how  nor 
had  the  facilities  to  read.  With  the  rise  of  the  modern 
drama  and  of  such  masterly  interpreters  of  human  passion 
as  the  dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan  era,  the  stage  was 
secularized  and  the  range  of  subjects  and  appeal  was  very 
much  widened. 

In  1660,  for  the  first  time,  women  were  engaged  to  per¬ 
form  female  characters.  Before  that  time,  they  had  been 
prohibited  from  appearing  on  the  stage;  largely  because 
the  female  parts  were  usually — and  especially  in  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  popularity  of  the  theatre — so  vulgar  and 
obscene  that  it  not  only  would  have  been  highly  dis¬ 
graceful  for  a  woman  to  appear  in  such  characters,  but 
the  vulgarity  was  too  great  even  for  the  countenance  of 
females  in  the  audience  without  resorting  to  the  expedient 
of  wearing  masks.  This  practice  led  to  shameful  intrigues 
and  discreditable  escapades  which  added  to  living  the  zest 
which  was  craved  by  the  women  of  the  court  who,  thus 
disguised,  were  habitudes  of  the  theatre.  If  it  was  thought 
that  by  allowing  women  to  take  female  parts  in  the  plays 
the  tone  of  such  characters  might  be  improved,  the  ordi¬ 
nances  which  permitted  the  practice  certainly  failed  of 
effect.  DTsraeli,  taking  the  aesthetic  view  of  this  innova¬ 
tion  of  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  says:  “  To  us  there  appears 
something  so  repulsive  in  the  exhibition  of  boys  or  men 
personating  female  characters,  that  one  cannot  conceive 


298 


WOMAN 


how  they  could  ever  have  been  tolerated  as  a  substitute  for 
the  spontaneous  grace,  the  melting  voice,  and  the  soothing 
looks  of  a  female.” 

The  absurdity  which  he  suggests  was  aptly  expressed 
by  a  poet  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  in  a  prologue  which 
was  written  as  an  introduction  to  the  play  in  which 
appeared  the  first  actress: 

“  Our  women  are  defective,  and  so  sized, 

You’d  think  they  were  some  of  the  guard  disguised ; 

For  to  speak  truth,  men  act,  that  are  between 
Forty  and  fifty,  wenches  of  fifteen ; 

With  brows  so  large  and  nerve  so  uncompliant, 

When  you  call  Desdemona— enter  giant.” 

Nell  Gwynn  is  said  first  to  have  attracted  the  attention 
of  King  Charles  when  she  appeared  in  a  humorous  part  at 
the  theatre;  she  was  one  of  the  earliest  actresses  to  appear 
in  propria  persona.  As  ungraceful  as  were  the  female 
parts  when  taken  by  men,  the  innovation  of  women  was 
not  received  kindly  by  many  critics  of  the  stage.  Thus 
Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  is  found  lamenting  the  new  custom: 
“  The  introduction  of  females  on  the  stage  was  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  a  change  ever  to  be  regretted.  Pride  of  birth,  but 
not  insolence,  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  highly  commendable, 
and  which  had  hitherto  been  the  chief  characteristic  of  the 
old  English  aristocracy,  who  had  kept  themselves  till  now 
almost  universally  free  from  stained  alliances;  but  from 
this  time  they  became  the  patrons,  and  even  the  hus¬ 
bands,  of  any  lewd,  babbling,  painted,  pawed-over  thing 
that  the  purlieus  of  the  theatre  could  produce.” 

Evelyn  comments  upon  the  theatre  to  the  same  effect, 
and  remarks  that  he  very  seldom  attended  it,  because  of 
its  godless  liberty:  “Foul  and  indecent  women  now  (and 
never  till  now)  permitted  to  appear  and  act,  who,  inflam¬ 
ing  several  young  noblemen  and  gallants,  become  their 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  299 

misses,  and  to  some  their  wives.”  He  then  instances 
several  of  the  nobility  whom  he  says  fell  into  such  snares, 
to  the  reproach  of  their  families  and  the  ruin  of  themselves 
in  both  body  and  soul.  He  laments  the  fact  that  the 
splendid  products  of  Shakespeare  and  Ben  Jonson  were 
crowded  off  the  stage  to  make  room  for  the  pasteboard 
and  tinsel  of  John  Dryden  and  Thomas  Shad  well.  At  the 
time  that  Evelyn  and  Pepys  were  recording  their  com¬ 
ments  upon  the  tone  of  the  stage,  thousands  were 
living  who  well  remembered  the  vehement  denunciation  of 
plays  by  the  sturdy  old  Puritan  William  Prynne,  who  was 
rewarded  for  his  ardent  crusades  against  the  iniquities  of 
the  theatre  by  the  snipping  off  of  his  ears.  The  condem¬ 
nation  of  the  theatre  was  not  confined  to  any  party  or 
church,  for  Bishop  Burnet  is  found  vigorously  denoun¬ 
cing  theatres,  under  the  new  conditions  inaugurated  by 
Charles  II.,  as  “nests  of  prostitution.” 

The  depravity  of  the  taste  of  the  patrons  of  the  theatres 
had  its  influence  upon  the  writers  of  the  plays.  Men  whose 
personal  lives  were  unexceptionable  did  not  scruple,  when 
writing  pieces  intended  for  representation  upon  the  stage, 
to  introduce  as  much  indecency  as  they  possibly  could, 
knowing  full  well  that  unless  their  works  were  highly 
seasoned  they  would  never  get  a  hearing.  The  manners 
and  tastes  of  the  court  of  Charles  II.  established  the  stand¬ 
ard  of  the  theatres  during  his  reign;  the  depravity  of 
public  sentiment  and  the  general  corruption  of  the  times 
were  greatly  increased  by  these  mirrors  of  the  manners  and 
life  of  the  court.  So  utterly  foul  became  the  repute  of  the 
stage,  that,  to  quote  from  Sydney’s  Social  Life  in  England, 
“Every  person  who  had  the  slightest  regard  for  sobriety 
and  morality  avoided  a  playhouse  as  he  would  have 
avoided  a  house  on  the  door  of  which  the  red  cross  bore 
witness  to  the  awful  fact  that  the  inmates  had  been 


300 


WOMAN 


smitten  by  the  pestilence  which  walketh  in  darkness  and  by 
the  sickness  that  destroyeth  in  noon-day.  The  indecorous 
character  of  the  stage  inflicted  much  less  injury  than  it 
would  have  done  had  it  been  covered  with  a  thin  veil 
of  sentiment.  Those  dramatic  representations,  at  which 
women  desirous  of  maintaining  some  reputation  for  mod¬ 
esty  deemed  it  incumbent  upon  them  to  wear  masks,  were, 
as  may  be  supposed,  studiously  avoided  by  those  who 
really  were  virtuous. ”  The  influence  of  the  metropolis 
did  not  extend  over  the  kingdom  as  it  does  to-day,  so  that 
outside  of  the  tainted  circles  there  were  to  be  found  social 
spheres  where  the  old  gentility  of  the  Elizabethan  age  was 
maintained,  although  subjected  to  such  sneers  as  were 
directed  against  them  by  Dryden,  who  looked  upon  them 
as  unfortunate  enough  to  have  been  bred  in  an  unpolished 
age,  and  still  more  unlucky  to  live  in  a  refined  one.  “  They 
have  lasted  beyond  their  own,  and  are  cast  behind  ours.” 

Artificiality  without  any  pretence  to  sincerity  was  the 
spirit  of  the  times  of  Charles  II.;  the  maundering  senti¬ 
ments  and  flagitious  bearing  of  the  actors  upon  the  stage 
were  not  different  from  the  conduct  of  the  buffoons  who 
masqueraded  in  titles  and  elegant  attire  at  the  court  of  the 
king  of  revels.  Foppery  in  speech  and  in  dress  and  the 
interlarding  of  conversation  with  French  phrases  found 
favor  among  the  court  followers.  It  was  regarded  “as  ill 
breeding  to  speak  good  English,  as  to  write  good  English, 
good  sense,  or  a  good  hand.” 

Women  as  artists  appeared  earlier  than  women  as 
players.  For  several  centuries  they  had  been  accustomed, 
as  a  polite  accomplishment,  to  illuminate  manuscripts,  and 
indeed  this  for  a  long  time  was  the  only  form  of  art  worthy 
of  the  name  in  England.  There  had  developed,  however, 
considerable  taste  and  skill  in  wood  carving,  as  well  as 
further  advancement  of  the  ancient  art  of  the  goldsmith, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  301 


which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  developed  enough  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  times  to  constitute  an  English  school.  But  art  in 
its  more  particular  meaning  was  not  found  domestic  to 
England  until  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  It  was  the  influence 
of  the  great  school  of  Dutch  artists  that  awakened  in 
England  art  instinct  and  created  artistic  talent.  England’s 
art  history  may  be  dated  from  the  time  of  Van  Dyke’s 
residence  in  the  country,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  embraces 
women.  When  Van  Dyke  was  at  the  English  court,  Anne 
Carlisle  shared  with  him  the  royal  patronage.  The  king’s 
fine  taste  in  art  matters  had  unerringly  led  him  to  fix  his 
favor  upon  this  woman,  and  her  works  show  the  undoubted 
genius  she  possessed. 

The  Puritan  embroilment,  which  was  destructive  to  all 
forms  of  intellectual  advancement  as  long  as  it  kept  the 
nation  in  an  unsettled  state,  had  a  repressive  effect  upon 
art;  but  from  the  time  of  the  Restoration  the  stream  flowed 
on  with  increasing  depth  and  volume,  and  the  list  of  Eng¬ 
land’s  woman  painters  not  only  became  creditable  to  the 
country,  but  afforded  another  criterion  by  which  to  prove 
the  lofty  possibilities  of  the  sex.  Mary  Beale,  a  painter 
in  oil  and  in  water-colors,  who  received  high  commenda¬ 
tion  from  the  famous  portrait  painter  Sir  Peter  Lely,  was 
a  painstaking  and  industrious  artist.  Anne  Killigrew,  who 
was  maid  of  honor  to  the  Duchess  of  York,  in  the  brief 
span  of  her  life  acquired  a  permanent  reputation,  not  only 
by  her  portraits,  which  included  those  of  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  York,  but  by  her  verses  as  well.  These  and 
other  women  of  talent  were  the  precursors  of  the  women 
who  did  so  much  for  the  art  history  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

In  considering  the  place  of  woman  in  literature  during 
the  period  of  which  we  are  writing,  it  is  well  to  keep  in 
mind  the  words  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague:  “We 


302 


WOMAN 


are  permitted  no  books  but  such  as  tend  to  the  weakening 
and  effeminating  of  our  minds.  We  are  taught  to  place 
all  our  art  in  adorning  our  persons,  while  our  minds  are 
entirely  neglected.”  This  opinion  of  woman  has  not  yet 
become  obsolete,  so  that  it  is  too  much  to  expect  to  find, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  women  of  the  highest  literary 
attainments,  and  certainly  one  need  not  look  for  women 
among  the  creators  of  literary  style  and  founders  of  Eng¬ 
lish  literature.  A  literary  woman  is  to  some  masculine 
minds  a  matter  of  everlasting  scorn.  Such  minds  will  not 
be  offended  in  the  perusal  of  the  literature  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century  by  finding  women  wielding  the  pen  for  the 
instruction  or  the  edification  of  elect  circles  of  superior 
intellects  or  to  please  the  vulgar  taste  of  the  common 
people.  Excepting  as  writers  of  occasional  verse  or  of 
memoirs,  the  names  of  few  female  authors  appear  in  the 
literary  annals  of  the  period. 

Amusement  and  not  intellect  was  the  contribution  which 
women  were  supposed  to  make  to  the  times  of  Charles  II., 
and,  excepting  in  matters  reprehensible,  there  was  often  a 
degree  of  simplicity  about  the  amusements  indulged  in  that 
makes  one  wonder  if  such  ingenuous  entertainment  does 
not  bespeak  less  design  'and  craftiness  in  the  natures  of 
those  women  than  is  usual  to  associate  with  plotters  and 
intriguers.  Lady  Steuart,  one  of  the  most  noted  court 
beauties,  found  her  chief  diversion  in  sitting  upon  the 
floor,  with  subservient  courtiers  about  her,  building  card 
houses.  Lord  Sunderland  treated  his  visitors  to  an  exhi¬ 
bition  of  fire  eating  by  the  renowned  Richardson,  who 
awakened  the  wonder  of  his  beholders  by  his  feats  of 
devouring  brimstone  on  glowing  coals,  eating  melted  beer 
glasses,  and  roasting  a  raw  oyster  upon  a  live  coal  held 
upon  his  tongue.  Such  mountebanks  and  jugglers  were 
the  successors  of  similar  characters  who  wandered  through 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  303 


the  country  from  castle  to  castle  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
or  became  attached  to  some  great  lord’s  following.  Other 
forms  of  indoor  amusements,  which  would  hardly  comport 
with  the  gravity  of  the  same  high  circles  of  society  in  the 
nation  in  these  latter  times,  may  be  stated.  Pepys  speaks 
of  one  day  going  to  the  court,  where  he  found  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  York,  with  all  the  great  ladies,  sitting 
upon  a  carpet  on  the  ground,  playing:  “I  love  my  love 
with  an  A,  because  he  is  so-and-so;  and  I  hate  him  with 
an  A,  because  of  this  and  that;”  and  he  observed  that 
some  of  the  ladies  were  mighty  witty,  and  all  of  them 
very  merry.  Blindman’s-buff  was  a  favorite  game  among 
even  older  people;  and  Burnett  says  that  at  one  time  the 
king,  queen,  and  whole  court  “went  about  masked,  and 
came  into  houses  unknown,  and  danced  there  with  a  great 
deal  of  wild  frolic.  In  all  this  they  were  so  disguised  that, 
without  being  in  the  secret,  none  could  distinguish  them. 
They  were  carried  about  in  sedan  chairs,  and  once  the 
queen’s  chairman,  not  knowing  who  she  was,  went  from 
her;  so  she  was  alone  and  much  disturbed,  and  came  to 
Whitehall  in  a  hackney  coach  (some  say  it  was  in  a  cart).” 

Scarcely  a  week  passed  by  but  that  Whitehall  was  bril¬ 
liantly  illuminated  for  a  ball,  at  which  the  king,  queen, 
and  courtiers  danced  the  “bransle,”  which  was  a  sort  of 
country  dance,  the  “  corant,”  swift  and  lively  as  a  jig,  and 
in  which  only  two  persons  took  part,  and  other  French 
figures.  Billiards  and  chess  were  played  a  great  deal,  and 
gambling  was  a  ruling  passion  of  the  day.  All  the  great 
women  at  court  had  their  card  tables,  around  which 
thronged  the  courtiers,  who  won  and  lost  enormous  sums. 
The  passions  which  were  aroused  by  gambling  often  led 
to  violent  quarrels,  and  frequently  these  were  settled  by 
duels,  although  duelling  had  been  prohibited  by  the  king 
at  the  time  of  the  Restoration. 


304 


WOMAN 


Many  fantastic  changes  had  taken  place  in  women’s 
attire  during  the  reign  of  Charles.  During  the  Common¬ 
wealth,  Puritan  sentiment,  and  proscription  as  well,  had 
reduced  the  dress  of  all  classes  to  a  remarkable  uniformity. 
The  costume  most  common  to  women  consisted  of  a  gown 
with  a  lace  stomacher  and  starched  kerchief,  a  sad-colored 
cloak  with  a  French  hood,  and  a  high-crowned  hat.  The 
Geneva  cloak  was  no  fit  covering  for  the  courtesan,  and 
was  instantly  thrown  aside  that  the  butterfly  which  had 
hidden  in  this  demure  chrysalis  might  emerge  fluttering  in 
all  its  gay  and  brilliant  colors.  Loose  and  flowing  draperies 
of  silk  and  satin  took  the  place  of  woollen  and  cotton 
gowns;  the  stiff  ruff  which  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  had 
been  facetiously  styled  “three  steps  to  the  gallows,”  be¬ 
cause  the  fashionables  of  her  day  would  go  to  any  length 
to  possess  it  in  the  most  extravagant  size  and  value,  had, 
under  the  Commonwealth,  become  much  more  circum¬ 
spect  as  to  its  appearance  and  circumference,  and  was 
esteemed  entirely  too  respectable  to  comport  well  with 
the  freedom  of  the  reign  of  Charles.  Then,  too,  the 
artistic  taste  of  the  day,  which  ran  to  portrait  painting, 
had  enhanced  the  estimate  of  ladies  with  regard  to  the 
matter  of  their  personal  charms.  So  it  was  regarded 
not  only  as  artistic,  but  aesthetic,  in  a  wider  sense,  to 
run  to  realism.  The  word  “run”  is  used  advisedly, 
for  there  was  a  veritable  scramble  to  get  rid  of  the  formal 
and,  it  must  be  conceded,  ridiculous  ruff.  But  when 
the  latter  disappeared  from  the  neck  and  shoulders, 
there  was  nothing  adapted  to  fulfil  its  functions,  so 
that,  through  a  lamentable  omission  on  the  part  of  the 
English  women  or  their  too  hasty  adoption  of  French 
fashions,  the  shoulders  and  bosoms  of  the  ladies  were 
given  little  consideration  by  the  designers  or  the  makers 
of  their  gowns. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  305 

But  the  head  was  not  treated  so  indifferently  as  the 
shoulders,  for,  when  the  plain  top  hat  of  the  Puritan  was 
abandoned,  the  milliner  already  had  something  at  hand  to 
compensate  the  ladies  for  their  loss.  Feathers  of  rare 
plumage  and  rich  color  were  employed  in  the  widest  profu¬ 
sion.  The  hoods,  too,  underwent  the  general  metamor¬ 
phosis,  and  emerged  from  their  penitential  gray  into 
“  yellow  bird’s  eye/’  and  other  tints  as  indescribable.  The 
new  styles  exposed  their  votaries  to  wide  criticism.  Many 
pamphlets  appeared  whose  straightforward  titles  showed 
in  what  an  undisguised  manner  the  subject  was  to  be 
found  treated  within  them.  The  general  complaint  was 
that  immodest  dress  was  not  confined  to  balls  and  chambers 
of  entertainment,  but  that  women  brazenly  appeared  in 
similar  costume  at  church,  braving  all  criticism  to  satisfy 
their  morbid  desire  for  observation.  The  mode  of  hair¬ 
dressing  of  the  period  ran  largely  to  ringlets,  which,  as 
they  appear  in  the  portraits  of  the  great  ladies  of  the  day, 
seem  at  the  present  time  stiff  and  unartistic.  The  art  of 
using  cosmetics,  which  had  lapsed  during  the  Puritan 
period,  was  actively  revived,  and  it  was  not  only  the  stage 
beauties,  but  the  court  women  as  well,  who  used  paint  in 
such  profusion  as  almost  to  disguise  their  identity. 

It  can  easily  be  seen  that  a  woman  of  the  period  must 
have  been  a  gorgeous  spectacle  in  full  dress,  with  painted 
face  adorned  with  black  patches  cut  in  designs  of  hearts, 
Cupids,  and  occasionally  even  coaches  and  four,  and  with 
her  hair  dressed  in  the  prevailing  mode,  which  was  to 
have  “false  locks  set  on  wyres  to  make  them  stand  at  a 
distance  from  the  head,  as  fardingales  made  the  clothes 
stand  out  in  Queen  Elizabeth’s  reign.”  A  woman  thus 
attired,  leaning  upon  the  arm  of  a  gallant  with  head 
adorned  by  the  periwig  worn  by  the  men  of  the  day,  was 
ready  for  any  fashionable  function.  As  hospitality  on  a 


306 


WOMAN 


large  and  generous  scale  was  a  circumstance  of  the  times, 
it  might  be  that  she  would  pass  into  the  hall,  with  its  mass¬ 
ive,  carved  furniture,  magnificent  tapestries,  sumptuous 
furnishings,  glittering  crystal,  elegant  plate,  and  beautiful 
wall  paintings,  to  assume  her  position  of  mistress  of  a 
household  and  do  the  honors  at  a  table  generous  with  its 
viands  and  ample  in  all  the  varied  range  of  English  and 
French  cookery.  In  doing  so,  she  would  be  governed  by 
the  etiquette  in  whose  precepts  she  had  been  schooled, 
and  of  which  the  following  is  a  sample:  “Instruction  to 
British  Ladies  When  at  Table — A  gentlewoman,  being  at 
table,  abroad  or  at  home,  must  observe  to  keep  her  body 
straight,  and  lean  not  by  any  means  on  her  elbows,  nor  by 
ravenous  gesture  disclose  a  voracious  appetite.  Talke  not 
when  you  have  meate  in  your  mouthe,  and  do  not  smacke 
like  a  pig,  nor  eat  spoone-meate  so  hot  that  the  tears  stand 
in  your  eyes.  It  is  very  uncourtly  to  drink  so  large  a 
draughte  that  your  breath  is  almost  gone,  and  you  are 
forced  to  blow  strongly  to  recover  yourself;  throwing  down 
your  liquor  as  into  a  funnel,  is  an  action  fitter  for  a  juggler 
than  a  gentlewoman.  In  carving  at  your  table,  distribute 
the  best  pieces  first;  it  will  appear  very  decent  and  comely 
to  use  a  forke;  so  touch  no  piece  of  meate  without  it.” 

The  table  furnished  an  opportunity  for  many  pleasant 
passages  of  repartee,  which,  however,  were  apt  to  be 
broader  in  their  point  and  more  undisguised  in  their  lan¬ 
guage  than  would  be  tolerated  in  any  society  of  to-day 
pretending  to  the  least  gentility.  Here,  too,  was  engen¬ 
dered  frequently  the  tender  sentiment  which  gave  rise  to 
proper  attentions  to  ladies  or  to  gallantry,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  courtier  and  his  lady-love.  When  gal¬ 
lantry  palled  upon  the  satiated  spirits  of  the  courtiers, 
to  preserve  their  unsavory  reputations  they  had  noth¬ 
ing  more  difficult  to  do  than  to  stuff  their  pockets  with 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD  307 


billets-doux,  which  they  paraded  in  view  of  their  fellows 
as  evidence  of  their  successful  intrigues.  When  love  took 
a  more  creditable  form,  and  the  lover  in  formal  and  open 
fashion  went  to  pay  his  addresses  to  his  lady-love,  he  sallied 
forth  in  the  evening,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  fiddlers, 
and  serenaded  her  with  some  choice  verses.  After  the 
suitor  was  accepted  and  the  marriage  arranged  for,  little 
of  sentiment  entered  into  it.  There  was  no  attempt  to 
hide  the  mercenary  motives,  which  were  frankly  displayed. 
Indeed,  women’s  marriage  portions  were  regarded  by  the 
seventeenth-century  writers  as  the  cause  of  much  wedded 
misery  and  sin.  It  was  argued  that  if  these  marriage  por¬ 
tions  were  dispensed  with,  marriage  would  be  more  likely 
to  be  contracted  upon  the  enduring  basis  of  compatibility 
and  love;  but  among  the  nobility,  monetary  considera¬ 
tions  and  questions  of  rank  were  usually  regarded  as  suffi¬ 
cient  motives  for  marriage,  unless  passion  swept  aside 
caution  and  led  to  a  mesalliance.  Gallants  who  serenaded 
with  dishonorable  motives  were  generally  treated  roughly. 
A  life  spent  between  a  town  residence  and  a  country  house, 
with  frequent  attendance  at  court,  comprised  the  ambitions 
of  the  young  nobility.  Marriage  was  frequently  regarded 
simply  as  an  incident  which  did  not  materially  alter  the 
attitude  of  either  of  the  contracting  parties  to  the  rest  of 
the  court  personnel. 

The  manners  of  the  times  of  Charles  II.  were  not  the 
manners  of  England  sober,  but  of  England  intoxicated  with 
the  new  wine  of  French  frivolity;  and  with  the  passing 
away  of  the  king  who  had  led  them  to  worship  false  gods, 
the  English  people  gradually  returned  to  their  habitual 
steadiness.  Yet,  the  dalliance  with  frivolity  had  effects  to 
be  seen  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  in  the  superficiality  of  the  era  in  regard  to  woman, 
and,  finally,  in  a  stiff  and  artificial  scheme  of  convention. 


.. 


. 


S  ■  .vfl 

■ 

1 

'  •  •  •  'V'  • 

-  '  •'  [ 


1 

. 


' 


•• 


(ffljapter  .\'£M 

2Tf )e  (Women  of  tf)c  3Sigf)tceutf)  (ttcuturg 


,  . 


XIII 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

THE  artificiality  of  eighteenth-century  society  was  a 
precursor  of  the  practicality  of  that  of  the  nineteenth.  The 
influences  which  had  given  shape  to  the  society  of  the  time 
of  the  Stuarts  had  passed  away,  and  the  new  influences 
and  forces  were  in  operation.  The  result  of  the  contest  be¬ 
tween  the  Puritan  and  the  sensualist  had  been  a  broadened 
social  apprehension;  and  into  this  new  concept  entered 
harmoniously  the  catholicity  of  the  worldly  spirit  and  the 
conservatism  of  the  religious  spirit.  This  was  the  society 
which  was  productive  of  women  of  eminence  in  the  arts 
and  literature,  as  well  as  of  women  untalented,  but  blessed 
with  a  broader  scope  of  life,  more  varied  experience  and 
controlled  natures,  than  those  who  had  gone  before  them. 

Society  as  a  whole  indirectly  profited  by  the  English 
dalliance  with  French  manners.  Corruption  was  but  a 
circumstance  of  the  closer  relationship,  in  social  ways,  of 
England  with  the  continent.  Political  animosities  and 
ambitions  had  more  largely  than  anything  else  brought 
England  and  the  rest  of  Europe  into  contact,  nor  was  the 
contact  by  clashing  at  an  end.  A  nation  generally  is  not 
greatly  concerned  in  the  projects  of  princes,  so  that,  while 
territorial  aggrandizement  or  curtailment  or  similar  benefits 
or  injuries  resulted  from  the  wars  of  England,  the  salient 
fact  as  a  social  consideration  is  that  the  English  people 

3i  1 


312 


WOMAN 


were  still  further  broadened  from  the  provincialism  which 
the  insularity  of  their  country  induced.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  women  of  England  had 
escaped  the  local  and  narrow  spirit  and  separateness  of 
customs  which  threatened  them  from  England’s  beginning, 
and  from  which  they  were  saved  by  recurrent  and  ever 
more  frequent  contact  with  continental  nations. 

English  society,  however,  had  not  become  so  imbued  with 
the  cosmopolitan  spirit  as  to  feel  at  ease  in  it  as  in  a  loose 
garment;  the  people  were  straitened  and  formal.  They 
were  lacking  the  versatility  and  adaptability  which  devel¬ 
oped  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when,  amongst  women, 
convention  became  settled  custom,  and  custom  the  careful 
promulgator  of  social  laws.  There  were  present  all  the 
evidences  of  the  finer  sensibilities  which  give  clear  notions 
in  matters  intellectual,  and  society  in  the  last  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  became  thoroughly  aroused  to  a  social 
consciousness  with  regard  to  the  middle  and  lower  classes. 
The  industrial  revolution  and  the  rise  of  the  school  of 
classic  economists  brought  forward  great  discussions  which 
had  for  their  purpose  the  determination  of  the  fundamental 
basis  of  a  nation’s  prosperity.  Into  this  discussion  women 
entered  as  participants,  but  very  much  more  largely  as 
interested  subjects  of  the  matters  involved. 

The  growth  of  England’s  industries,  more  than  any  other 
single  thing,  contributed  to  the  well-being  of  the  masses  of 
English  society,  while  at  the  same  time  it  tended  to  make 
sharper  distinctions  among  them.  The  increase  of  ease 
and  comfort  in  living  affected  largely  the  character  of 
domestic  life;  and  the  wider  scope  of  industry  and  sterner 
demands  for  labor,  which  were  the  outcome  of  a  desire  to 
participate  largely  in  the  benefits  of  the  new  industries, 
gave  opportunity  to  individual  talent  and  application;  while 
the  unfrugal  and  shiftless,  or  the  unfortunate,  experienced 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  31  3 


in  proportionately  greater  degree  the  severity  of  living. 
To  mining,  fishing,  farming,  sheep  rearing,  fruit  cultiva¬ 
tion,  weaving,  seafaring, — the  industries  of  England  other 
than  manufactures, — were  added  during  the  seventeenth 
century  glass  manufacture,  cotton  manufacture,  and  other 
industries  which  were  the  foundation  of  England’s  material 
greatness.  This  list  was  greatly  augmented  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  the  development  of  manufactures 
of  all  sorts  created  the  factory  towns,  which  drew  to  them, 
as  into  a  vortex,  the  populations  of  the  rural  districts,  and 
created  many  problems  of  modern  society  in  which  female 
and  child  labor  are  involved. 

Among  the  women  in  everyday  life,  social  habits  were 
easy  and  existence  had  many  elements  of  contentment. 
Gossip — which  had  become  differentiated  from  scandal, 
because  of  a  wider  variety  of  subjects  to  chatter  about 
than  flagitious  conduct,  occupied  a  large  proportion  of  the 
time  of  the  women.  The  public  gardens  and  the  prome¬ 
nades  of  the  cities,  notably  the  capital,  were  as  much 
resorted  to  as  during  the  reign  of  Charles,  and  there  was 
as  keen  an  interest  in  the  display  of  styles  and  the  parade 
of  wealth  by  the  women  who  rode  in  their  carriages  or 
were  carried  in  their  sedan  chairs  as  formerly  there  had 
been  in  the  conduct  of  the  gilded  set  of  the  Restoration. 

Society  as  such  had  not  as  yet  reached  the  coherence 
which  it  knows  to-day.  It  was  much  a  matter  of  classes 
or  sections.  The  “democracy  of  aristocracy,”  which 
makes  a  cross-section  of  all  the  social  grades  and  includes 
the  wealthy,  the  noble  born,  the  intellectual  and  the  gifted 
of  all  ranks  of  society,  was  a  later  development.  It  is 
true  that  women  of  gifts  did  not  have  to  rely  upon  patrons 
for  their  reputation,  but  had  direct  access  to  the  public 
and  were  sustained  by  their  own  worth;  nevertheless,  the 
pride  of  birth  was  still  strong  enough  to  make  those  who 


314  WOMAN 

...  ;  i  _  ■  ' 

possessed  it  hold  themselves  far  above  even  the  most 
gifted  and  talented  of  the  sex  who  were  not  born  within 

I  the  narrow  circle  of  noble  society.  Yet  it  was  no  longer 

simply  the  person  garnished  with  titles  of  nobility  who 
attracted  the  popular  eye  and  was  singled  out  in  the 
crowd;  for  when  women  whose  only  claim  to  notice  was 
their  saintliness  of  character  and  Christian  service,  or  their 
philanthropy,  or  their  literary  gifts,  or  their  art  attain¬ 
ments,  were  seen  in  the  places  of  general  resort,  they 
attracted  as  much  attention  as  did  women  of  rank. 

The  prosperous  and  well-domiciled  woman  of  the  middle 
classes  could  rest  in  the  comfortable  feeling  that  the  de¬ 
marcations  of  society  no  longer  absolutely  precluded  the 
possibility  of  her  daughters’  entering  the  ranks  of  those 
famous  for  their  signal  worth  of  one  sort  or  another;  but 
as  yet  the  great  movements  of  modern  society  had  not 
come  into  close  touch  with  the  lives  of  ordinary  women. 
Newspapers  were  published,  but  women  seldom  read  them. 
Philanthropy  was  making  headway,  but  women  had  little 
part  in  its  movement,  nor  had  they  fully  entered  as  yet 
into  their  birthright  in  the  realm  of  literature.  In  the  rural 
districts,  their  life  was  so  contracted  that  a  weekly  news¬ 
letter,  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  was  the  chief  medium 
of  information  as  to  the  outside  world;  but  even  this  was 
not  usually  read  by  the  womenfolk,  who  were  content  to 
receive  their  news  by  hearsay.  Unlike  the  women  of  the 
aristocracy,  the  women  of  the  middle  classes  did  not  be¬ 
come  beneficiaries  to  any  large  degree  in  the  wider  con¬ 
nections  of  their  husbands,  because  such  connections  were 
for  the  most  part  of  a  business  nature  and  not  social.  They 
were  women  of  mediocrity,  and  their  role  was  domestic. 
It  was  still  thought  unimportant  to  widen  woman’s 
horizon  beyond  the  elements  of  an  education.  To  these, 
in  the  case  of  the  more  prosperous,  were  added  those 


■ 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  315 


accomplishments  which  are  still  looked  upon  by  ignorant 
persons  with  disdain,  but  which  serve  to  bridge  the  chasms 
of  society  by  establishing  tests  of  good  breeding  irrespect¬ 
ive  of  social  birth;  so  that  to  reading,  writing,  geography, 
and  history  there  were  added  music,  French,  and  Italian. 
Such  a  curriculum,  faithfully  followed,  prepared  young 
women  to  move  in  polite  circles. 

The  old  cry  of  women’s  incapacity  for  intellectual  attain¬ 
ments  of  the  same  order  as  those  of  men  is  audible  through¬ 
out  the  eighteenth  century.  One  writer,  after  speaking 
of  the  regard  in  which  the  sex  were  held  in  England,  dis¬ 
cusses  the  matter  of  their  education  and  concludes  that  it 
is  not  easy  to  comprehend  the  possibility  of  raising  them 
to  a  higher  plane  than  that  to  which  they  had  been  lifted, 
because  of  their  natural  incapacity  for  other  than  the 
domestic  and  social  functions  which  they  so  gracefully 
fulfilled.  To  English  people  generally,  it  was  a  matter  of 
pride  that  their  women  received  greater  respect  and  were 
held  in  greater  affection  than  those  of  continental  coun¬ 
tries.  This  was  often  remarked  upon  by  foreign  visitors, 
one  of  whom  observes  that  “among  the  common  people 
the  husbands  seldom  make  their  wives  work.  As  to  the 
women  of  quality,  they  don’t  trouble  themselves  about 
it.”  The  position  of  the  wife  in  middle-class  society  has 
been  set  before  us  by  Fielding  in  a  satire  that  has  in  it 
much  of  truth:  “The  Squire,  to  whom  that  poor  woman 
had  been  a  faithful  upper-servant  all  the  time  of  their 
marriage,  had  returned  that  behavior  by  making  what  the 
world  calls  a  good  husband.  He  very  seldom  swore  at 
her,  perhaps  not  above  once  a  week,  and  never  beat  her. 
She  had  not  the  least  occasion  for  jealousy,  and  was  per¬ 
fect  mistress  of  her  time,  for  she  was  never  interrupted 
by  her  husband,  who  was  engaged  all  the  morning  in 
his  field  exercises,  and  all  the  evening  with  his  bottle 


3i6 


WOMAN 


companions.”  Certainly  home  had  come  to  have  attached 
to  it  a  notion  of  greater  sanctity  than  ever  before,  and 
women  were  accorded  their  natural  rights  and  position, 
with  the  respect  and  deference  in  the  tenderer  relations  of 
life,  which  signified  much  more  than  the  profuse  chivalry 
of  the  Middle  Ages  or  the  mock  courtesy  of  the  time  of 
Charles  II. 

The  English  people  were  above  all  domestic;  and  the 
period,  in  its  emphasis  upon  this  phase  of  social  life, — the 
English  home, — marks  in  a  way  the  beginning  of  that  con¬ 
ception  which  is  now  regarded  as  being  at  the  very  foun¬ 
dation  of  a  secure  society.  While  France  was  going  on  in 
its  iconoclastic  way,  destroying  all  things  sacred  in  a  mad 
desire  to  seize  for  the  Third  Estate  the  rights  which  they 
realized  belonged  to  them,  and  the  grasping  of  which  was 
to  cause  French  history  to  be  written  in  the  blood  and  fire 
of  the  great  Revolution,  the  English,  having  passed  out  of 
the  social  depravity  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  became 
eminently  steady  and  conservative  of  those  elements  of 
social  progress  which,  in  their  case,  unlike  that  of  their 
French  neighbors,  had  already  been  secured  for  them  by 
progressive  and  largely  peaceful  measures. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  term  “old  maid” 
had  now  entered  into  the  popular  vernacular,  although 
“spinster,”  with  its  transferred  meaning,  was  the  more 
respectful  way  of  speaking  of  unmarried  women.  “An  old 
maid  is  now  thought  such  a  curse,”  says  the  author  of  the 
Ladies’  Calling ,  “as  no  Poetick  Fury  can  exceed;  looked 
on  as  the  most  calamitous  creature  in  nature.  And  I  so  far 
yield  to  the  opinion  as  to  confess  it  to  those  who  are  kept 
in  that  state  against  their  wills;  but  sure  the  original  of 
that  misery  is  from  the  desire,  not  the  restraint,  of  mar¬ 
riage;  let  them  but  suppress  that  once,  and  the  other  will 
never  be  their  infelicity.  But  I  must  not  be  so  unkind  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  317 

the  sex  as  to  think  ’tis  always  such  desire  that  gives  them 
an  aversion  to  celibacy;  I  doubt  not  many  are  frightened 
only  with  the  vulgar  contempt  under  which  that  state 
lyes:  for  which  if  there  be  no  cure,  yet  there  is  the  same 
armous  against  this  which  is  against  all  other  causeless 
reproaches,  viz.,  to  contemn  it.” 

The  esteem  in  which  matrimony  was  held  as  the  mani¬ 
fest  destiny  of  the  fair  sex  is  illustrated  by  all  the  social 
manners  of  the  day.  Women  had,  however,  the  good 
taste  to  conduct  themselves  without  reproach,  and  not  to 
invite  attention  even  while  they  most  appreciated  it.  In  a 
word,  the  young  women  of  the  eighteenth  century  were 
not  coquettes,  and  with  them  modesty  was  not  a  lost  art. 
They  were  not  masculine,  and  indeed  might  have  been 
regarded  from  the  standards  of  to-day  as  prudes.  But  the 
prudery  of  the  British  women  excited  the  admiration  of 
foreigners,  thoroughly  satiated  with  the  arts,  the  flaunting 
manners,  and  the  gilded  charms  of  the  young  women  of 
the  European  capitals. 

One  foreigner  is  found  recording  his  astonishment  at  the 
diversity  in  the  manner  of  walking  of  the  ladies,  and  sees 
in  it  an  index  of  their  characters;  for,  says  he,  when  they 
are  desirous  only  of  being  seen,  they  walk  together,  for 
the  most  part  without  speaking.  He  suggests  that  the 
stiffness  and  formality  of  their  demeanor  when  not  thus 
on  dress  parade  are  laid  aside  for  greater  naturalness.  But 
he  says  that,  with  all  their  care  to  be  seen,  they  have  no 
ridiculous  affectations.  In  former  times,  it  was  not  cus¬ 
tomary  for  young  women  to  go  about  without  the  attend¬ 
ance  of  some  older  person,  and  a  girl  so  doing  was  brought 
under  suspicion  as  to  her  character;  but  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  young  girls  went  about  freely  with  their  fellows 
and  without  any  other  company,  and  a  writer  of  the 
period  assures  us  that  if  a  young  girl  went  out  with  a 


3i» 


WOMAN 


parent,  unless  such  parent  were  as  wild  as  herself,  she 
felt  as  though  she  was  going  abroad  with  a  jailer.  It  was 
not  usual,  however,  for  girls  to  go  about  unchaperoned. 

It  would  be  an  unwarranted  assumption  to  suppose  that 
demureness  was  any  deeper  than  demeanor  in  the  maidens 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  for  the  feminine  character — and 
not  times  and  customs — determines  the  effectiveness  of 
the  sex.  Matters  of  custom  and  of  dress  signify  little,  and 
yet  the  Solons  who  passed  the  act  of  1770  to  lessen  the 
potency  of  woman’s  charms  appear  to  have  been  utterly 
oblivious  of  the  important  consideration  that  these  do  not 
rest  in  outward  circumstance,  but  in  inward  grace.  This 
curious  act  prescribed:  “  That  all  women,  of  whatever  age, 
rank,  profession,  or  degree,  whether  virgins,  maids,  or 
widows,  that  shall,  from  and  after  such  Act,  impose  upon, 
seduce,  or  betray  into  matrimony,  any  of  his  Majesty’s 
male  subjects  by  the  scents,  paints,  cosmetic  washes,  arti¬ 
ficial  teeth,  false  hair,  Spanish  wool,  iron  stays,  hoops, 
high-heeled  shoes,  etc.,  shall  incur  the  penalty  of  the  law 
now  enforced  against  witchcraft  and  like  misdemeanours, 
and  that  the  marriage  upon  conviction  shall  stand  null  and 
void.”  And  this,  too,  just  six  years  before  the  American 
Declaration  of  Independence! 

Allusion  to  this  act  proscribing  aids  to  beauty  leads 
to  the  consideration  of  the  matter  of  costume  and  adorn¬ 
ment.  This  can  be  summarized  in  the  censure  which  was 
called  forth  from  an  Italian  visitor:  “The  ladies  of  Eng¬ 
land  do  not  understand  the  art  of  decorating  their  persons 
so  well  as  those  of  Italy;  they  generally  increase  the  vol¬ 
ume  of  the  head  by  a  cap  that  makes  it  much  bigger  than 
nature,  a  fault  which  should  be  always  avoided  in  adorn¬ 
ing  that  part.”  After  this  observation,  the  writer  passes 
on  to  criticise  the  length  of  the  ladies’  skirts,  affirming 
that  they  wore  their  petticoats  too  short  behind,  unlike 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  319 


the  ladies  of  Italy  and  France,  for — and  we  are  indebted 
to  him  for  his  explication  of  trains — these  ladies  “pattern 
after  the  most  graceful  birds.”  By  their  failure  to  emulate 
the  peacock  or  the  bird-of-paradise  in  the  matter  of  their 
splendid  appendages,  the  English  women  are  said  to  lose 
“the  greatest  grace  which  dress  can  impart  to  a  female.” 
He  continues,  saying:  “In  truth,  not  beauty,  but  novelty 
governs  in  London,  not  taste,  but  copy.  A  celebrated 
woman  of  five  foot  six  inches  gives  law  to  the  dress  of 
those  who  are  but  four  feet  two.  .  .  .  This  is  not  the 

case  in  Italy  and  France;  the  ladies  know  that  the  grace 
which  attends  plumpness  is  unbecoming  the  slender;  and 
the  tall  lady  never  affects  to  look  like  a  fairy;  nor  the 
•  dwarf  like  the  giantess,  but  each,  studying  the  air  and 
mien  which  become  her  figure,  appears  in  the  most  en¬ 
gaging  dress  that  can  be  made,  to  set  off  her  person  to 
the  greatest  advantage.” 

Passing  from  the  generalities  of  female  dress  and  coming 
to  particular  descriptions  thereof,  here  is  an  account  of  the 
costuming  of  the  ladies  who  assembled  at  court  to  con¬ 
gratulate  his  majesty  George  II.  and  his  queen,  Caroline, 
on  their  nuptials:  “The  ladies  were  variously  dressed, 
though  with  all  the  richness  and  grandeur  imaginable; 
many  of  them  had  their  heads  dressed  English,  of  fine 
Brussels  lace  of  exceeding  rich  patterns,  made  up  on  nar¬ 
row  wire  and  small  round  rolls,  and  the  hair  pinned  to 
large  puff-caps,  and  but  a  few  without  powder;  some  few 
had  their  hair  curled  down  on  the  sides;  pink  and  silver, 
white  and  gold,  were  the  general  knots  worn.  There  was 
a  vast  number  of  Dutch  heads,  their  hair  curled  down  in 
short  curls  on  the  sides  and  behind,  all  very  much  pow¬ 
dered,  with  ribbands  frilled  on  their  heads,  variously  dis¬ 
posed;  and  some  had  diamonds  set  on  ribbands  on  their 
heads;  laced  tippets  were  pretty  general,  and  some  had 


320 


WOMAN 


ribbands  between  the  frills;  treble-lace  ruffles  were  uni¬ 
versally  worn,  though  abundance  had  them  not  tacked  up. 
Their  gowns  were  either  gold  stuffs  or  rich  silks,  with 
either  gold  or  silver  flowers,  or  pink  or  white  silks, 
with  either  gold  or  silver  nets  or  trimmings;  the  sleeves  to 
the  gowns  were  middling  (not  so  short  as  formerly),  and 
wide,  and  their  facings  and  robings  broad;  several  had 
flounced  sleeves  and  petticoats  and  gold  or  silver  fringe  set 
on  the  flounces;  some  had  stomachers  of  the  same  sort  as 
the  gown,  others  had  large  bunches  of  made  flowers  at 
their  breasts;  the  gowns  were  variously  pinned,  but  in 
general  flat,  the  hoops  French,  and  the  petticoats  of  a 
moderate  length,  and  a  little  slope  behind.  The  ladies 
were  exceedingly  brilliant  likewise  in  jewels;  some  had 
them  in  their  necklaces  and  ear-rings,  others  with  dia¬ 
mond  solitaires  to  pearl  necklaces  of  three  or  four  rows; 
some  had  necklaces  of  diamonds  and  pearls  intermixed, 
but  made  up  very  broad;  several  had  their  gown-sleeves 
buttoned  with  diamonds,  others  had  diamond  sprigs  in 
their  hair,  etc.  The  ladies’  shoes  were  exceeding  rich, 
being  either  pink,  white,  or  green  silk,  with  gold  or  silver 
lace  braid  all  over,  with  low  heels  and  low  hind-quarters  and 
low  flaps,  and  abundance  had  large  diamond  shoe-buckles.” 

The  preposterous  hooped  petticoats  which  ladies  wore 
out  of  doors  subjected  them  to  the  good-natured  banter  of 
the  wits  of  the  time.  One  of  these  sallies,  which  appeared 
about  1720,  runs  as  follows: 

“An  elderly  lady,  whose  bulky  squat  figure 
By  hoop  and  white  damask  was  rendered  much  bigger, 

Without  hood  and  bare-neck’d  to  the  Park  did  repair 
To  show  her  new  clothes  and  to  take  the  fresh  air ; 

Her  shape,  her  attire,  raised  a  shout  in  loud  laughter : 

Away  waddles  Madam,  the  mob  hurries  after. 

Quoth  a  wag,  then  observing  the  noisy  crowd  follow, 

‘As  she  came  with  a  hoop,  she  is  gone  with  a  hollow.’  ” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  32 1 


The  hoopskirt  was  the  characteristic  feature  of  eight¬ 
eenth-century  styles,  and  it  grew  to  such  enormous  pro¬ 
portions  as  seriously  to  inconvenience  the  wearer  and  to 
interfere  with  the  cubic  feet  of  space  which  a  pedestrian 
might  reasonably  claim  as  his  right  on  a  crowded  thorough¬ 
fare.  But  there  were  eighteenth-century  styles  which 
were  more  reprehensible  than  the  oft-caricatured  hoop. 

There  was  a  class  of  votaries  of  fashion,  in  contrast  to 
the  mass  of  society,  whose  only  notion  of  dress  was  dis¬ 
play,  and  toward  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
these  imported  the  most  extravagant  and  immodest  of 
French  styles.  As  they  paraded  the  public  gardens,  to 
which  all  classes  resorted,  the  staid  people  were  scandalized 
by  their  appearance.  T.  Wright,  in  his  Caricature  History 
of  the  Georges,  says  that  “what  was  looked  upon  as  the 
beau-monde  then  lived  much  more  in  public  than  now,  and 
men  and  women  of  fashion  displayed  their  weaknesses  to 
the  world  in  public  places  of  amusement  and  resort,  with 
little  shame  or  delicacy.  The  women  often  rivalled  the 
men  in  libertinism,  and  even  emulated  them  sometimes  in 
their  riotous  manners. ”  Women  of  the  town  were  greatly 
in  evidence,  and  a  trustworthy  traveller  of  the  times  affirms 
that  they  were  bolder  and  more  numerous  in  London  than 
in  either  Paris  or  Rome.  Not  only  at  night,  but  in  broad 
daylight,  they  traversed  the  footpaths,  selecting  out  of  the 
passers-by  the  susceptible  for  their  enticement,  particu¬ 
larly  directing  themselves  to  foreigners.  Archenholz  says: 
On  compte  cinquante  mille  prostituees  a  Londres,  dans  les 
mattresses  en  titre.  Leurs  usages  et  leur  conduite  deter- 
minent  les  differentes  classes  oil  it  faut  les  ranger.  La  plus 
vile  de  toutes  habite  dans  les  lieux  publics  sous  la  direction 
d’une  matrone  qui  les  loge  et  les  habille.  Ces  habits  mee 
pour  les  files  communes,  sont  de  soie,  suivant  V  usage  que  le 
luxe  a  generalement  introduit  en  Angleterre.  .  .  .  Dans 


322 


WOMAN 


la  seule  paroisse  de  Marybonne ,  qui  est  la  plus  grande  et  la 
plus  peuplee  de  V  Angleterre,  on  en  comptoit,  il  y  a  quelques 
annees ,  treige  mille,  dont  dix-sept  cents  occupoient  des  maisons 
entieres  a  elles  seules. 

Such  a  picture  of  social  vice  in  the  metropolis  is  a  sad 
commentary  upon  the  tendency  of  the  young  women  of 
the  country  districts  to  drift  to  the  city.  The  “  lights  o’ 
London”  had  already  begun  to  possess  that  fascination 
for  the  weak  in  morals,  the  light-headed  and  frivolous, 
which  has  made  them  a  wrecker’s  beacon  on  a  rockbound 
shore,  luring  to  destruction  untold  hosts  of  inexperienced 
country  youth.  Nor  was  the  drift  Londonward  due  alto¬ 
gether  to  the  fascination  which  the  gay  and  pleasure¬ 
pandering  city  possessed,  for  there  were  not  wanting 
methods  of  enticement  such  as  are  still  employed,  in  spite 
of  legal  penalties.  The  example  of  city  dwellers  of  out¬ 
ward  respectability  did  not  tend  to  elevate  the  moral  tone 
of  those  who  came  fresh  from  the  country,  with  its  purer 
home  life;  for  while  the  sanctity  of  the  home  was  an 
appreciable  fact  of  the  seventeenth  century,  it  was  much 
less  so  in  the  metropolis  and  in  the  cities  generally  than 
it  was  in  the  country. 

A  notorious  fact  that  attracted  the  notice  of  conti¬ 
nental  visitors  to  England  was  that  lax  morality  prevailed 
in  many  English  families.  Muralt,  a  Frenchman,  even 
asserts  that  he  found  it  customary  for  husbands  generally 
to  maintain  mistresses  and  also  to  bring  them  to  their 
homes  and  place  them  on  a  footing  with  their  wives. 
This  is  doubtless  an  exaggerated  statement  of  the  case; 
but  when  the  king  was  not  faultless,  the  people  were  apt 
to  pursue  folly.  Although  no  king  after  Charles  II.,  ex¬ 
cept  George  II.,  disgraced  the  nation  by  the  profligacy 
which  he  exhibited,  yet  Charles’s  successor,  James  II., 
kept  a  mistress,  as  did  most  of  the  kings  following  him. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  323 


Referring  again  to  Fielding,  we  get  what  is  probably  a 
truer  picture  of  the  times  in  this  respect  than  could  be 
penned  from  the  hasty  observations  of  a  traveller.  A 
young  fellow  who  has  led  astray  his  landlady’s  daughter  is 
addressed  by  his  uncle  in  the  following  manner:  “  Honour 
is  a  creature  of  the  world’s  making,  and  the  world  has 
the  power  of  a  creator  over  it,  and  may  govern  and  direct 
it  as  they  please.  Now,  you  well  know  how  trivial  these 
breaches  of  contract  are  thought;  even  the  grossest  make 
but  the  wonder  and  conversation  of  the  day.  Is  there  a 
man  who  afterwards  will  be  more  backward  in  giving  you 
his  sister  or  daughter,  or  is  there  any  sister  or  daughter 
who  would  be  more  backward  to  receive  you?  Honour  is 
not  concerned  in  these  engagements.”  It  need  not  be 
supposed  that  such  sentiments  were  general;  but  that 
they  were  all  too  prevalent  is  manifested  by  the  literature 
that  mirrors  the  times. 

Drinking  and  swearing,  the  coarse  associations  of  the 
alehouse,  the  obscene  jokes  and  sallies  which  were  in¬ 
dulged  in  freely  in  such  places  and  made  up  a  great  part 
of  the  conversation,  were  conducive  to  a  very  low  moral 
standard  for  men,  and  there  was  nothing  in  the  times  to 
lead  women  to  uphold  higher  ideals  of  conduct  than  those 
which  were  imposed  upon  them  by  the  male  sex.  Con¬ 
sequently,  they  were  accustomed  to  a  lower  standard  than 
would  be  tolerated  to-day;  but  as  libertinism  was  largely 
concerned  with  the  outcast  element  of  society,  the  women 
of  the  homes  were  not  called  upon  to  sacrifice  integrity  of 
character  for  its  satisfaction.  So  that  the  lower  moral 
standard  was  set  up  for  men,  and  a  woman  who  would 
attempt  at  once  to  maintain  her  respectability  and  follow 
such  courses  would  very  soon  have  found  that  difference 
in  standards  for  the  sexes  visited  a  stricter  condemnation 
upon  her  than  upon  the  male  delinquent. 


324 


WOMAN 


The  testimony  of  foreigners  to  the  chastity  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  matron  quite  coincides  with  that  which  comes  from 
English  sources.  Le  Blanc  remarks:  “  Most  of  those  who 
among  us  pass  for  men  of  good  fortune  in  amours  would 
with  difficulty  succeed  in  addressing  an  English  fair.  She 
would  not  sooner  be  subdued  by  the  insinuating  softness 
of  their  jargon  than  by  the  amber  with  which  they  are 
perfumed. ”  Another  observer,  of  the  same  nationality, 
speaking  of  the  unassailability  of  the  English  woman, 
attributes  it  to  the  insurmountable  rampart  which  she  had 
in  the  love  for  her  family,  the  care  of  her  household,  and 
her  natural  gravity,  and  says  that  he  does  not  know  any 
city  in  the  world  where  the  honor  of  husbands  is  in  less 
danger  of  deflection  than  in  London. 

The  social  hypocrisy  of  the  eighteenth  century,  as  it 
relates  to  woman,  was  due  to  the  failure  as  yet  to  place 
the  sex  in  correct  adjustment  with  the  times.  Instead  of 
considering  her  as  having  serious  qualities  and  value  other 
than  the  realization  of  matrimony,  everything  that  entered 
into  woman’s  life  pointed  in  that  one  direction.  The  art 
of  pleasing  was  not  cultivated  as  an  opportunity  of  the 
sex  due  to  their  special  graces  of  spirit  and  of  person, 
which  might  legitimately  be  employed  for  their  own  sake 
to  make  the  world  happier  and  brighter.  There  was  not 
afforded  to  men  the  restfulness  and  pleasure  in  the  company 
of  women  which  would  serve  as  a  delightful  foil  to  the  prac¬ 
tical  and  anxious  cares  of  their  daily  lives;  nor  were  women 
taught  to  believe  in  themselves  as  capable  persons  in  the 
spheres  of  life  in  which  feminine  personality,  taste,  and 
touch  best  affect  and  mould  civilization.  Except  in  a  few 
notable  cases,  literature  and  art,  to  say  nothing  of  science, 
were  outside  of  woman’s  sphere,  because  she  neither  be- 
-  lieved  in  herself  nor  was  seriously  regarded  by  men  as  a 
factor  in  any  of  the  wide  relations  of  life  other  than  those 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  325 


which  were  involved  in  her  sex.  The  arts  of  the  toilette, 
conversation,  and  deportment  were  all  in  which  she  was 
considered  to  need  to  be  adept.  Where  naturalness  was 
suppressed,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  young  women  should 
have  been  influenced  by  false  standards;  false  modesty, 
false  sensitiveness,  false  ignorance,  were  depended  upon 
to  give  them  the  artlessness  and  innocence  of  deportment 
which  should  recommend  them  to  the  blase  men  of  the 
times. 

The  estimate  in  which  the  sex  was  held  was  not  quietly 
accepted  by  all  women;  although  the  new  woman  had  not 
appeared  upon  the  horizon,  there  were  not  wanting  women 
who  realized  that  their  position  was  a  humiliating  one,  and 
who  sought  to  create  a  sentiment  for  its  betterment. 
Mary  Astell  was  one  such,  and  the  case  as  presented  by 
her  shows  the  superficiality  of  the  conventional  routine  of 
a  woman’s  life.  She  says:  “  When  a  young  lady  is  taught 
to  value  herself  on  nothing  but  her  cloaths,  and  to  think 
she’s  very  fine  when  well  accoutred;  when  she  hears  say, 
that  ’tis  wisdom  enough  for  her  to  know  how  to  dress  her¬ 
self,  that  she  may  become  amiable  in  his  eyes  to  whom  it 
appertains  to  be  knowing  and  learned;  who  can  blame  her 
if  she  lays  out  her  industry  and  money  for  such  accomplish¬ 
ments,  and  sometimes  extends  it  farther  than  her  misin- 
former  desires  she  should?  ...  If  from  our  infancy 
we  are  nurs’d  upon  ignorance  and  vanity;  are  taught  to 
be  proud  and  petulant,  delicate  and  fantastick,  humourous 
and  inconstant,  ’tis  not  strange  that  the  ill  effects  of  this 
conduct  appear  in  all  the  future  actions  of  our  lives.  .  .  . 
That,  therefore,  women  are  unprofitable  to  most,  and  a 
plague  and  dishonor  to  some  men,  is  not  much  to  be  re¬ 
gretted  on  account  of  the  men,  because  ’tis  the  product  of 
their  folly  in  denying  them  the  benefits  of  an  ingenuous 
and  liberal  education,  the  most  effectual  means  to  direct 


326 


WOMAN 


them  into,  and  secure  their  progress  in,  the  ways  of 
virtue.” 

A  French  writer  criticised  the  Englishmen  of  the  day 
for  their  failure  to  avail  themselves  of  the  refining  influ¬ 
ence  of  women,  in  whose  graces,  he  affirmed,  there  could 
be  found  constant  charm  and  a  certain  sweetness  peculiar 
to  the  sex.  Fie  said  that  the  conversation  of  the  women 
would  polish  and  soften  the  manners  of  the  men  and  en¬ 
able  them  to  contract  a  manner  and  tone  which  would  be 
agreeable  to  both  sexes;  and  he  ascribed  the  bluntness  of 
the  English  character  to  this  lack  of  the  refining  influence 
of  female  society. 

As  women  were  left  so  largely  to  their  own  devices, 
failing  the  comradeship  of  men,  they  gave  themselves  over 
to  the  needle  as  the  chief  resource  for  idle  hours.  The 
Female  Spectator  protested  against  this  excessive  needle¬ 
work  on  the  part  of  women:  “Nor  can  I  by  any  means 
approve  of  your  compelling  young  ladies  of  fortune  to 
make  so  much  use  of  the  needle,  as  they  did  in  former 
days,  and  some  few  continue  to  do.  ...  It  always 
makes  me  smile  when  I  hear  the  mother  of  fine  daughters 
say:  f  I  always  keep  my  girls  at  their  needle;’  one,  perhaps, 
is  working  her  a  gown,  another  a  quilt  for  a  bed,  and  a 
third  engaged  to  make  a  whole  dozen  shirts  for  her  father. 
And  then,  when  she  had  carried  you  into  the  nursery  and 
shown  you  them  all,  add:  ‘  It  is  good  to  keep  them  out  of 
idleness;  when  young  people  have  nothing  to  do,  they 
naturally  wish  to  do  something  they  ought  not.’  ”  With 
such  a  narrow  circle  of  interest,  it  was  not  strange  that 
women  who  had  leisure  should  have  wasted  it  in  frivolity. 

Gambling  among  women  of  fashion  was  more  a  result 
of  too  much  leisure  and  too  little  intellectual  stimulus  than 
an  indication  of  vicious  propensities.  The  Female  Spectator, 
from  which  we  have  quoted,  in  an  article  in  1745,  relating 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  327 


an  account  of  the  visit  of  a  country  lady  to  a  London 
friend,  furnishes  an  illustration  of  the  extent  and  effects  of 
the  vice.  The  article  recites  that  after  knocking  a  consid¬ 
erable  time  at  the  door  of  her  friend’s  house, — the  hour 
was  between  eleven  and  twelve  o’clock  in  the  day, — a 
footman,  with  his  nightcap  on  and  a  general  appearance  of 
having  risen  from  the  dead,  responded  to  her  inquiry  for 
her  friend,  in  the  interim  of  his  yawns:  "We  had  a  racquet 
here  last  night,  and  my  lady  cannot  possibly  be  stirring 
these  three  hours.”  The  surprised  visitor  refrained  from 
asking  any  questions  concerning  this  unintelligible  answer, 
and,  after  leaving  her  name,  returned  again  at  three 
o’clock.  She  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  admitted,  and 
found  her  friend  at  her  chocolate.  She  had  a  dish  of  this 
in  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  she  seemed  to  have  been 
busy  in  sorting  a  large  pile  of  guineas,  which  she  had 
divided  in  two  heaps  on  the  table  before  her.  Rising,  she 
greeted  her  visitor  with  great  civility,  and  expressed  regret 
at  the  latter’s  disappointment  on  first  calling,  saying,  with 
a  smile,  that  when  her  friend  had  been  a  little  longer  in 
town,  she  would  lie  longer  in  bed  in  the  morning.  She 
then  enlightened  her  as  to  the  term  “  racquet,”  telling  her 
that  when  the  number  assembled  for  cards  exceeded  ten 
tables  the  game  was  so  styled;  if  fewer,  it  was  called  a 
“  rout”;  and  if  there  were  but  two  tables,  it  was  a  “drum.” 

It  must  always  appear  a  curious  and  an  unfortunate  cir¬ 
cumstance  that  at  the  time  of  the  great  industrial  awaken¬ 
ing  in  England  in  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  men,  women,  and  children  were  losing  their  indi¬ 
viduality  and  becoming  mere  industrial  units,  representing 
so  many  pounds  of  human  energy  to  be  added  to  a  machine, 
the  women  and  children  of  the  factories  and  of  the  hovels 
of  the  factory  towns  cried  piteously  to  the  Church  for  bread 
and  received  but  a  stone.  And  this  was  at  a  time  when  the 


328 


WOMAN 


social  needs  were  so  great  and  the  sympathies  of  all  other 
classes  seemed  to  be  alienated  by  diversity  of  interest 
from  those  who  were  called  upon  to  toil  for  the  making  of 
England’s  wealth.  Professor  Thorold  Rogers,  the  pains¬ 
taking  and  acute  investigator  of  England’s  industry,  says 
with  regard  to  the  lethargy  which  constituted  a  veritable 
Dark  Age  for  the  English  Church:  “It  is  hard  indeed  to 
see  what  there  is  to  relieve  the  darkness  of  the  picture 
which  the  Anglican  Church  presents  from  the  death  of 
Queen  Anne  to  the  time  of  the  Evangelical  Revival.  Over 
against  the  Anglican  Church,  formal,  jealous  of  laymen, 
fearful  of  schism  or  irregularity,  should  be  set  the  noncon¬ 
formist  churches.”  Although  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
religious  enthusiasm  in  the  religious  communities  of  the 
Commonwealth,  the  principal  branches  of  the  Protestant 
nonconformists  soon  became  wedded  to  their  own  systems, 
and,  in  a  way,  as  narrow  in  their  application  of  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  the  New  Testament  as  the  church  from  which 
they  had  separated.  It  was  not  until  the  last  quarter  of 
the  seventeenth  century  that  a  movement  began  which 
opened  the  way  to  lines  of  development  which  have  been 
going  on  ever  since.  The  vast  number  of  present-day 
religious  societies,  whether  in  direct  connection  with  the 
Church  or  outside  of  its  pale,  may  be  traced  in  some  ways 
to  the  period  just  before  and  during  the  reign  of  William  III. 

Then  arose  societies  for  the  reformation  of  manners  in 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom.  These  societies  represented  the 
early  stirring  of  the  spirit  of  reform  which  found  its  ex¬ 
pression  in  so  many  forms  of  activity  in  later  times.  They 
resembled  somewhat  the  modern  societies  for  the  correc¬ 
tion  of  social  evils,  such  as  societies  for  the  prevention  of 
vice,  or  societies  for  preventing  the  corrupting  of  the  youth. 
It  was  all  done  under  the  impulse  of  religion,  but  was  not 
initiated  by  the  Church;  it  was  a  lay  movement.  The  first 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  329 


distinctively  women’s  movements  in  religious  matters  were 
outside  of  the  Church.  The  great  preacher  Whitfield 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon, 
whose  drawing  rooms  were  thrown  open  for  his  preaching 
and  were  filled  by  fashionable  auditors.  Other  titled 
women  joined  the  countess,  and  among  them  was  the 
famous  Duchess  of  Marlborough.  The  interest  of  noble¬ 
women  in  a  movement  essentially  plebeian  has  its  parallel 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  Salvation  Army  en¬ 
listed  the  interest  and  support  of  women  of  rank  and  title. 

The  attitude  of  the  countess  in  her  loyal  support  of  the 
new  evangelical  movement  brought  her  under  the  criticism 
that  is  always  encountered  by  a  zeal  which  is  not  under¬ 
stood  by  people  generally.  The  Duchess  of  Buckingham 
wrote  to  her:  “  I  thank  your  Ladyship  for  the  information 
concerning  the  Methodist  preachers;  their  doctrines  are 
most  repulsive,  and  strongly  tinctured  with  impertinence 
and  disrespect  towards  their  superiors,  in  perpetually  en¬ 
deavouring  to  level  all  ranks  and  do  away  with  all  dis¬ 
tinctions.  It  is  monstrous  to  be  told  that  you  have  a  heart 
as  sinful  as  the  common  wretches  that  crawl  on  the  earth. 
This  is  highly  offensive  and  insulting,  and  I  cannot  but 
wonder  that  your  Ladyship  should  relish  any  sentiments 
so  at  variance  with  high  rank  and  good  breeding.”  The 
Countess  of  Suffolk  on  one  occasion  was  so  incensed  at 
a  sermon  of  Whitfield  in  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon’s 
drawing  room,  that  she  rushed  out  of  the  house  in  a  pas¬ 
sion,  under  the  impression  that  the  discourse  was  a 
personal  attack.  The  attitude  of  the  clergy  generally  to 
the  Methodist  movement  within  the  Church  was  one  of 
indifference. 

The  suffering  among  the  wives  of  the  inferior  clergy, 
who  were  impoverished  and  suffered  under  the  defeat  of 
the  endeavor  to  make  their  scanty  resources  meet  the 


330 


WOMAN 


demands  of  household  expenses,  the  lack  of  opportunity 
for  educating  their  children,  and  their  own  loss  of  self- 
respect,  must  have  made  their  lives  more  miserable  in 
some  ways  than  those  of  the  wives  of  the  potters,  whose 
sphere  of  existence  and  needs  were  much  more  limited. 
One  of  the  clergymen  of  this  order  plaintively  sets  forth 
his  pecuniary  distress  as  follows:  “Oh,  my  Lord,  how 
prettily  and  temperately  may  a  wife  and  half  a  dozen  chil¬ 
dren  be  maintain’d  with  almost  ^30  per  annum!  What 
an  handsome  shift  will  an  ingenious  and  frugal  divine 
make,  to  take  by  turns  and  wear  a  cassock  and  a  pair  of 
breeches  another!  What  a  primitive  sight  it  will  be  to 
see  a  man  of  God  with  his  shoes  out  at  the  toes,  and  his 
stockings  out  at  heels,  wandering  about  in  an  old  russet 
coat  and  tatter’d  gown  for  apprentices  to  point  at  and 
wags  to  break  jest  on!  And  what  a  notable  figure  will  he 
make  in  the  pulpit  on  Sundays  who  has  sent  his  Hooker  and 
Stillingfleet ,  his  Pearson  and  Saunderson,  his  Barrow  and 
Tillotson,  with  many  more  fathers  of  the  English  Church, 
into  limbo  long  since  to  keep  his  wife’s  pensive  petticoat 
company,  and  her  much  lamented  wedding  ring!”  Such  a 
picture  belongs  rather  to  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  than  to  its  beginning,  for  in  its  earlier  days  the 
Church  was  prolific  of  quiet  scholars  and  antiquaries,  in 
both  parsonage  and  manse,  living  peaceful,  comfortable, 
and  cultured  existences. 

The  attitude  of  the  Church  of  the  eighteenth  century 
toward  women  is  hardly  one  of  record,  as  there  was  not 
enough  animation  or  interest  displayed  in  social  conditions 
— or,  indeed,  during  a  part  of  the  century,  enough  of  intel¬ 
lectual  comprehension — to  serve  the  Church  for  any  dis¬ 
crimination  as  to  women’s  status.  When  the  change  of 
-  attitude  of  the  Church  in  respect  to  its  indifference  toward 
that  element  of  its  body  which  before  the  Reformation, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  331 


and  continuously  since  then,  has  been  so  serviceably  em¬ 
ployed  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  did  occur,  it  was 
the  High  Church  party  which  brought  it  about,  and  so 
preserved  for  English  Protestantism  the  work  of  women. 

Although  the  Church  was  indifferent  to  the  great  mis¬ 
sion  that  lay  before  it  in  the  eighteenth  century, — a  mission 
that  had  to  be  met  by  the  raising  up  from  the  laity  of  men 
and  women  who  should  stand  for  the  spiritual  rights  of  the 
lower  orders  of  society  especially, — there  was  a  notable 
band  of  Christian  philanthropic  women  who  brightened 
the  close  of  the  century. 

By  harnessing  human  compassion  to  social  needs,  the 
distressed  classes  of  society  came  to  be  lifted  to  that  posi¬ 
tion  of  betterment  which  is  theirs  to-day,  largely  through 
agencies  that  owe  their  beginnings  to  the  More  sisters, 
Elizabeth  Fry,  and  Harriet  Martineau.  It  is  always 
a  pleasing  task  to  turn  to  such  women  as  these,  exempli¬ 
fying  as  they  do  the  attainments  of  the  sex  in  those 
peculiar  and  special  ways  which  so  well  represent  the 
adaptations  of  women.  The  greatest  woman  who  graced 
the  annals  of  helpfulness  of  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  England  was  Hannah  More.  The  beautiful  devo¬ 
tion  of  her  long  and  honorable  life  to  the  cause  of  teaching, 
and  the  widespread  interest  which,  by  her  writings,  she 
attracted  to  the  subject  both  in  Europe  and  America,  place 
her  at  the  source  of  one  of  the  mighty  streams  of  per¬ 
vasive  influence  that  have  ever  permeated  human  society. 
So  great  was  her  appreciation  of  the  character  and  the 
position  of  woman,  that  she  was  able  to  forecast  well-nigh 
everything  that  has  been  enunciated  in  modern  times  with 
regard  to  the  place  of  the  sex  in  education  and  in  society. 

Hannah  More  was  born  in  1745,  in  a  little  village  near 
Bristol.  Her  father,  who  was  the  village  schoolmaster, 
gave  his  five  daughters  educations  adapted  as  near  as 


332 


WOMAN 


might  be  to  the  peculiar  talents  of  each.  Three  of  the 
girls  opened  a  boarding  school  in  Bristol,  when  the  oldest 
was  only  twenty  years  of  age.  This  school  soon  became 
fashionable  and  ultimately  famous.  It  was  to  this  institu¬ 
tion  that  the  early  labors  of  Hannah  More  were  given, 
and  it  was  here  that  she  attracted  the  attention  of  such 
men  as  Ferguson  the  astronomer,  the  elder  Sheridan, 
Garrick  the  tragedian,  Goldsmith,  Reynolds,  Burke, 
and  indeed  nearly  all  men  of  eminence  in  intellectual  and 
state  life.  But  her  associations  were  not  solely  with  the 
fashionable  world,  by  which  she  was  petted  and  flattered, 
for  she  turned  her  attention  to  labors  for  the  poor  and  the 
ignorant.  She  sought  to  do  for  the  children  who  lived 
amid  the  savage  profligacy  of  the  peasant  class  what 
Madame  de  Maintenon  sought  to  do  for  girls  of  the  aristo¬ 
cratic  class  in  her  country.  Both  alike  aimed  to  offset  the 
perversion  of  character  which  threatened  the  girls  of  their 
respective  schools,  from  different  sources,  but  to  the  same 
end, — their  destruction.  Madame  de  Maintenon  worked  to 
counteract  the  insidious  infidelity  that  permeated  the  upper 
walks  of  life — Hannah  More,  to  counteract  the  practical 
atheism  of  the  lowest  plane  of  life.  The  fundamental 
principle  of  her  educational  system  was  the  necessity  of 
Christian  instruction.  She  recognized  the  close  relation¬ 
ship  of  education  and  religion,  and  gauged  well  the  signifi¬ 
cance  of  the  historical  fact  of  woman’s  debt  to  Christianity 
for  her  elevation.  The  question  which  she  asked  was  not 
that  of  social  utility,  but  that  of  personal  character.  She 
saw  too  much  of  the  utilitarian  principle  in  its  actual  work¬ 
ings,  the  reducing  of  human  life  to  the  plane  of  mechanism, 
to  permit  her  to  base  her  educational  efforts  upon  a  utili¬ 
tarian  foundation.  She  sought  to  cultivate  that  “sensi¬ 
bility  which  has  its  seat  in  the  heart  rather  than  in  the 
nerves.”  Anything  which  detracted  from  modesty  or 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  333 


delicacy,  or  tended  to  make  a  girl  bold  or  forward,  she 
severely  rebuked.  She  taught  the  wastefulness  of  ex¬ 
pending  time  upon  the  cultivation  of  a  talent  which  one 
does  not  possess,  and  held  that  excessive  cultivation  of 
the  aesthetic  range  of  subjects  contributes  to  a  decline  in 
those  more  stable  factors  upon  which  is  based  the  security 
of  states.  Neither  indelicate  exposure  of  the  person  in 
style  of  dress  nor  extravagance  in  dancing  found  favor  at 
her  hands.  Such  were  some  of  the  views  which  were 
entertained  and  promulgated  by  the  woman  who  created 
an  epoch  in  the  attitude  of  society  toward  her  sex.  She 
taught  the  dignity  of  womanhood,  from  which  the  duties 
of  domesticity  cannot  detract,  the  performance  of  them  as 
a  function  of  womankind  being  of  all  things  honorable. 
The  pure  common  sense  of  Hannah  More  did  for  the  women 
of  her  time  the  service  which  had  failed  of  performance  by 
the  Church. 

Passing  from  the  theoretical  to  the  practical  part  of 
Hannah  More’s  work,  it  is  interesting  to  see  her  putting 
into  effect  her  philanthropic  labors.  The  people  among 
whom  she  labored  were  destitute  of  almost  everything 
that  makes  life  comfortable.  Among  the  Mendip  Hills, 
out  from  Bristol,  lived  a  wild,  barbarous,  lawless  popula¬ 
tion,  compared  with  which  the  millers  and  the  colliers  of 
the  mines  were  mild  and  tractable.  Among  these  people 
Hannah  More  established  her  schools.  Some  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  had  already  had  the  schooling  of  the  prison,  and  all 
of  them  had  been  tutored  in  vice  beyond  comprehension 
for  persons  so  young.  Hannah  More’s  schemes  were 
regarded  by  many  as  visionary  and  impracticable,  and  re¬ 
ceived  opposition  from  sources  where  sympathy  and  help¬ 
fulness  were  to  be  expected.  Gradually,  however,  her 
school  work  was  extended  until  it  covered  an  area  of 
twenty-eight  miles. 


334 


WOMAN 


In  the  Sunday  schools  the  children  received  religious 
instruction,  and  in  the  day  schools  they  were  taught  to 
spin  flax  and  wool.  No  missionary  bishop  travelled  more 
constantly,  no  Methodist  itinerant  cultivated  his  circuit 
district  more  assiduously,  than  did  Hannah  and  her  sister 
Patty  More  their  lay  diocese.  The  many  difficulties  which 
had  to  be  overcome  by  them  cannot  be  appreciated  by 
workers  among  the  destitute  to-day,  with  all  the  appli¬ 
ances  and  books  and  methods  which  represent  a  century’s 
experience  in  such  lines.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was  to  hand 
for  these  sisters;  but  Hannah  More  was  an  author  as  well 
as  a  philanthropist,  and  the  tales  for  the  interest  and  in¬ 
struction  of  the  children  she  wrote  herself. 

While  Hannah  More  lived  and  worked  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  her  life’s  service  extended  over  into  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  also.  She  was  a  contemporary  of  Miss 
Mitford,  Mary  Carpenter,  Mrs.  Summerville,  and  Maria 
Edgeworth.  The  eighteenth  century  brought  forth  the 
women  who  were  to  carry  into  the  nineteenth  century 
the  elements  of  service  for  society,  which  were  to  be  like 
the  seed  sown  in  good  ground  and  to  bring  forth  the  maxi¬ 
mum  fold  of  fruitage. 

The  national  system  of  education  had  not  been  devel¬ 
oped  in  the  eighteenth  century,  making  the  acquirement 
of  an  education  somewhat  dependent  upon  individual  cir¬ 
cumstances  as  affected  by  personal  ambitions.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  way  of  general  education  for  women.  But 
the  dawn  of  better  things  intellectually  was  shown  by  the 
development  of  a  group  of  women  of  literary  comprehen¬ 
sion  and  productivity,  who  formed  a  set  apart  and  yet 
were  in  a  real  sense  prophets  in  a  wilderness,  proclaiming 
the  democracy  of  letters.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu 
writes  very  bitterly  of  the  low  esteem  in  which  was  held 
the  intellectuality  of  the  sex,  and,  in  speaking  of  the  study 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  335 

of  classics,  says:  “  My  sex  is  usually  forbid  studies  of  this 
nature,  and  folly  reckoned  so  much  our  proper  sphere  we 
are  sooner  pardoned  any  excesses  of  that,  than  the  least 
pretensions  to  reading  or  good  sense.  .  .  .  Our  minds 
are  entirely  neglected,  and,  by  disuse  of  reflections,  filled 
with  nothing  but  the  trifling  objects  our  eyes  are  daily 
entertained  with.  This  custom  so  long  established  and 
industriously  upheld  makes  it  even  ridiculous  to  go  out  of 
the  common  road,  and  forces  one  to  find  as  many  excuses 
as  if  it  was  a  thing  altogether  criminal  not  to  play  the  fool 
in  concert  with  other  women  of  quality,  whose  birth  and 
leisure  only  serve  to  render  them  the  most  useless  and 
most  worthless  part  of  the  creation.  There  is  hardly  a 
creature  in  the  world  more  despicable  or  more  liable  to 
universal  ridicule  than  a  learned  woman!  These  words 
imply,  according  to  the  received  sense,  a  tattling,  imperti¬ 
nent,  vain,  and  conceited  creature.  .  .  .  The  Abbe 

Bellegarde  gives  a  reason  for  women’s  talking  over  much: 
they  know  nothing,  and  every  outward  object  strikes  their 
imagination  and  produces  a  multitude  of  thoughts,  which, 
if  they  knew  more,  they  would  know  not  worth  thinking 
of.  I  am  not  now  arguing  for  an  equality  of  the  two  sexes. 
I  do  not  doubt  God  and  nature  have  thrown  us  into  an 
inferior  rank;  we  are  a  lower  part  of  the  creation,  we  owe 
obedience  and  submission  to  the  superior  sex,  and  any 
woman  who  suffers  her  folly  and  vanity  to  deny  this 
rebels  against  the  laws  of  the  Creator,  and  indisputable 
order  of  nature;  but  there  is  a  worse  effect  than  this, 
which  follows  the  careless  education  given  to  women  of 
quality — it’s  being  so  easy  for  any  man  of  sense,  that 
finds  it  either  his  interest  or  his  pleasure  to  corrupt  them. 
The  common  method  is  to  begin  by  attacking  their  reli¬ 
gion:  they  bring  a  thousand  fallacious  arguments  their 
excessive  ignorance  hinders  them  from  refuting;  and,  I 


336 


WOMAN 


speak  now  from  my  own  knowledge  and  conversation 
among  them,  there  are  more  atheists  among  the  fine  ladies 
than  among  the  lowest  sort  of  rakes. ”  This  bitter  plaint 
of  a  lady  of  quality,  with  its  humiliating  acknowledgment 
of  the  inferiority  of  her  sex  and  the  hopelessness  of  that 
inferiority,  sounds  very  pathetic  in  the  light  of  the  present- 
day  estimate  of  woman  and  her  acknowledged  equality 
with  man  in  all  matters,  saving  only  in  the  exercise  of  the 
public  functions  for  which  the  advocates  of  the  full  pro¬ 
gramme  of  woman’s  rights  contend. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  women  of  intellectual  gifts  grew 
morbid  under  a  sense  of  social  inferiority;  it  is  not  strange 
that  they  hid  their  light  under  a  bushel,  and  were  afraid 
of  acknowledging  their  talents  or  their  aspirations,  when 
men  regarded  learning  for  their  daughters  “as  great  a 
profanation  as  the  clergy  would  do  if  the  laity  should 
undertake  to  exercise  the  functions  of  the  priesthood.” 
In  matters  intellectual,  woman  was  negative.'  She  must 
not  embarrass  her  superiors  by  displaying  in  their  pres¬ 
ence  indications  of  talent  or  evidences  of  learning;  her 
theories  and  opinions  were  not  worthy  of  statement  or 
consideration  in  the  presence  of  the  male  sex.  Her  gen¬ 
tility  was  one  of  breeding,  but  it  did  not  involve  the  brain. 
Of  necessity  the  intellectual  development  of  woman  in 
such  a  mental  atmosphere  was  slow.  Her  elevation  was 
dependent  upon  an  awakening  of  thought  in  all  depart¬ 
ments  of  life.  There  was  lacking  an  incentive  to  intel¬ 
lectual  industry  when  the  fruits  of  such  toil  might  not  be 
enjoyed. 

Under  such  adverse  conditions,  the  names  of  the  women 
of  exceptional  intellectual  gifts  in  the  eighteenth  century 
constitute  a  roll  of  honor  worthy  to  be  inscribed  in  every 
hall  of  learning  devoted  to  the  education  of  women.  This 
literary  coterie  included,  besides  Lady  Mary  Wortley 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  337 


Montagu,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Montagu,  Elizabeth  Parker,  Mrs. 
Vesey,  Hannah  More,  Mrs.  Chapone,  Elizabeth  Carter, 
and  Miss  Talbot. 

Lady  Montagu  was  of  an  aggressive  nature,  and  well 
fitted  to  conquer  difficulties  rather  than  to  despair  in  their 
presence.  She  was  a  good  classical  scholar,  a  student 
under  Bishop  Burnet,  and  was  abreast  of  all  the  thought 
of  her  time.  She  is  credited,  among  other  things,  with 
the  courage  to  introduce  the  system  of  inoculation  for 
smallpox,  having  had  her  son  so  treated. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Montagu  was  an  insatiable  devotee  of 
society,  and  abounded  with  a  fund  of  mirth  for  the  enliven- 
ment  of  the  dullest  company.  In  her  correspondence, 
amid  a  lively  flow  of  chatter,  she  introduces  discussions  of 
Dr.  Middleton’s  Life  of  Cicero  and  other  critical  and  his¬ 
torical  allusions  relating  to  the  classic  authors,  and  evinces 
familiarity  with  such  literature.  Again,  she  is  found  des¬ 
canting  in  a  critical  vein  on  the  qualities  of  Warburton’s 
Notes  on  Shakespeare.  Her  observations  upon  English  his¬ 
tory  are  appreciative  of  its  distinguishing  features.  In 
these  remarks  she  says:  “In  some  reigns,  the  kingdom 
is  in  the  most  terrible  confusion,  in  others  it  appears  mean 
and  corrupt;  in  Charles  II. ’s  time,  what  a  figure  we  make 
with  French  measures  and  French  mistresses!  But  when 
our  times  are  written,  England  will  recover  its  glory;  such 
conquests  abroad,  such  prosperity  at  home,  such  prudence 
in  council,  such  vigor  in  execution,  so  many  men  clothed 
in  scarlet,  so  many  fine  tents,  so  many  cannon  that  do  not 
so  much  as  roar,  such  easy  taxes,  such  flourishing  trade! 
Can  posterity  believe  it?  I  wish  our  history,  from  its  in¬ 
credibility,  may  not  get  bound  up  with  fairy  tales  and 
serve  to  amuse  children,  and  make  nursery  maids  moral¬ 
ize.”  The  same  light  touch  and  whimsical  insight  dis¬ 
played  in  this  quotation  are  evidenced  in  all  her  writings. 


338 


WOMAN 


It  matters  not  the  subject — balls  or  books,  flirtations  or 
syllogisms,  the  same  delicate  vein  of  humor  runs  through¬ 
out  them. 

Miss  Carter,  the  particular  friend  of  Mrs.  Montagu,  frail 
in  health  and  devoted,  a  beauty,  a  wit,  a  brilliant  conver¬ 
sationalist,  was  yet  of  a  much  more  retiring  disposition 
than  was  her  friend.  She  created  no  Hillstreet  and  Port- 
man  Square  assemblies,  although  she  was  by  no  means  a 
recluse;  and  even  if  she  did  not  have  so  strong  a  social 
following  as  Mrs.  Montagu,  her  presence  possessed  charm 
for  those  who  assembled  about  her.  She  had  a  wide  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  literature,  and  patronized  the  libraries  ex¬ 
tensively;  her  linguistic  accomplishments  included  French, 
Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and,  most  rare  acquirement 
in  those  days,  German.  She  was  discriminating  in  her 
literary  tastes,  and  is  found  commenting  upon  German 
books  of  fiction.  She  says  that  they  are  dangerous  for 
young  people,  for  the  reason  that  they  possess  the  singular 
art  of  sanctifying  the  passions.  Mere  sentimentality  was 
repugnant  to  her  feelings,  and  she  dismissed  from  her 
attention  a  German  book,  with  the  expression:  “A  de¬ 
testable  book,  but  I  know  of  no  other  in  German  that  is 
exceptionable  in  the  same  horrid  way.” 

Mrs.  Vesey  was  another  literary  character  whose  salon, 
made  thoroughly  delightful,  was  frequented  only  by  per¬ 
sons  of  the  greatest  culture.  Just  how  the  name  bas-bleu 
came  to  be  identified  with  the  assembly  which  Mrs.  Vesey 
gathered  about  her  is  not  known.  One  explanation  which 
was  current  at  the  time  attributes  the  term  to  a  foreign 
gentleman  who  was  invited  to  go  to  either  Mrs.  Montagu’s 
or  Mrs.  Vesey’s,  and  was  assured  as  to  the  informality  of 
the  occasion  by  an  acquaintance,  who  told  him  that  full 
dress  was  quite  optional,  and,  in  fact,  he  might  go  in  blue 
stockings  if  he  was  so  minded.  Other  accounts  do  not 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  339 


agree  with  this;  one  lays  the  phrase  at  the  door  of  Mr. 
Benjamin  Stillingfleet,  the  naturalist,  who  always  wore 
blue  stockings;  but  it  is  asserted  by  Miss  Carter’s  biog¬ 
rapher  that  Stillingfleet  died  before  the  name  came  into 
vogue.  Hannah  More,  in  some  whimsical  lines,  describes 
a  bas-bleu  assembly: 

“  Here  sober  Duchesses  are  seen, 

Chaste  wits  and  critics  void  of  spleen : 

Physicians  fraught  with  real  science, 

And  Whigs  and  Tories  in  alliance; 

Poets  fulfilling  Christian  duties, 

Just  Lawyers,  reasonable  Beauties, 

Bishops  who  preach  and  Peers  who  pray, 

And  Countesses  who  seldom  play, 

Learn’d  Antiquaries  who  from  college 
Reject  the  rust  and  bring  the  knowledge ; 

And  hear  it,  age,  believe  it , youth, — 

Polemics  really  seeking  truth ; 

And  Travellers  of  that  rare  tribe 
Who’ve  seen  the  countries  they  describe.” 

The  brilliant  woman  who  gathered  about  her  such  a 
representative  gathering  of  celebrities  as  is  suggested  by 
these  lines — an  assemblage  in  which  Dr.  Johnson  could 
discourse  in  one  corner  on  moral  duties,  and  Horace  Wal¬ 
pole  amuse  another  group  with  his  lively  wit,  while  the 
younger  portion  discussed  the  opera  or  the  fashions — was 
the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Vesey,  Archbishop  of  Tuam. 
By  her  second  marriage — with  a  relative,  Mr.  A.  Vesey — 
she  resumed  her  maiden  name.  Prominent  persons,  other 
than  those  mentioned,  who  were  attracted  to  her  salon  were 
Burke,  Pulteney,  Garrick,  Lord  Lyttleton,  Dr.  Burney, 
and  Lord  Monboddo. 

Women  were  not  only  given  to  shining  in  exclusive 
social  circles,  but  brilliant  representatives  of  the  sex  were 
keenly  interested  in  the  political  trend  of  the  times.  The 
Duchess  of  Marlborough  was  one  of  the  most  notable  and 


340 


WOMAN 


politically  active  women  of  the  age  of  Anne.  This  was  a 
time  of  ascendency  in  politics  of  the  Dissenters,  who  are 
described  by  Burton  in  his  history  of  that  age  as  a  clog 
upon  the  free  movements  of  the  complicated  machinery  of 
British  social  and  political  life.  Another  of  the  famous 
women  at  court  was  the  Countess  of  Suffolk,  who  appears 
in  Swift’s  correspondence  as  Mrs.  Howard.  These  women 
were  thoroughly  informed  as  to  the  political  movements  of 
their  time,  as  is  revealed  by  their  correspondence;  and 
they,  with  others  as  noteworthy,  often  shaped  state  policy. 
Among  names  which  appear  prominently  in  the  political 
movements  of  the  century  are  those  of  the  Countess  of 
Bristol,  Mrs.  Selwyn,  who  was  one  of  the  ladies  of  the 
bedchamber  to  the  queen  of  George  II.,  Lady  Hervey,  and 
the  Duchess  of  Queensborough.  The  latter  declared  her¬ 
self  so  wearied  of  elections  that,  in  all  good  conscience, 
they  ought  to  occur  only  once  in  an  age.  The  Countess 
of  Huntingdon,  the  supporter  of  Whitfield,  the  Duchess  of 
Devonshire,  and  other  women  of  position,  had  vital  interest 
in  public  questions. 

The  interest  which  English  ladies  took  in  politics  was 
a  matter  of  constant  surprise  to  foreigners,  but  it  was 
significant  of  the  awakening  to  a  sense  of  privilege  which 
led  in  the  next  century  to  the  various  female  declarations 
of  rights,  of  which  the  most  extreme  was  the  claim  to 
suffrage. 


ffifjaptet  XFfcT 

2Tf)c  ®2EotnEn  of  tfje  Mneteentf)  (ttmturg 


" — - 


1 


i 


. 


\ 


a) 


■ 


■ 


XIV 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  practically 
unfettered  opportunity  extended  in  all  directions  before 
women;  but  it  was  necessary  for  the  century  to  spend  its 
force  before  they  had  fully  availed  themselves  of  the 
privileges  which  were  objected  to  only  by  those  who  still 
descanted  on  woman’s  sphere  as  a  purely  domestic  one. 
The  “woman  question”  is  very  modern,  because  woman 
has  so  lately  come  to  be  seriously  regarded  as  a  factor  in 
the  work  of  life.  The  changed  conditions  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  resulted  from  those  forces  which  were 
operating  for  the  larger  liberty  of  the  sex.  Contributions 
to  the  widening  of  the  scope  of  their  lives  came  from 
many  sources.  Religion  has  been  the  evangel  of  woman; 
but  even  it  cannot  claim  that  the  modern  woman,  with 
her  versatility  of  touch  and  her  multiform  influence,  is  its 
product.  Law  reluctantly  acknowledged  the  rights  of  the 
sex  where  it  was  futile  to  deny  them;  but  it  has  sinned 
too  grievously  in  the  years  that  are  past  to  receive  recog¬ 
nition  as  a  promoter  of  the  new  Renaissance,  although  it 
cherishes  the  rights  which  woman  has  achieved,  and  is 
to-day  one  of  her  most  chivalrous  defenders.  Convention 
is  too  unadaptive  to  do  more  than  recognize  adjustments 
which  have  been  otherwise  brought  about,  but,  as  repre¬ 
senting  the  rules  of  society,  it  is  promotive  of  the  dignity 

343 


344 


WOMAN 


and  the  rights  of  the  sex  to  the  extent  that  these  dignities 
and  rights  have  been  otherwise  afforded. 

Acknowledgment  for  the  position  which  woman  attained 
during  the  last  century  is  due  not  to  any  one  of  these 
forces,  but  to  all  working  together,  although  Nature  must 
be  chiefly  credited  with  having  brought  it  about.  The 
great  increase  in  population  in  England,  and  the  excess  of 
the  female  portion,  led  women  to  ponder  the  question  of 
other  spheres  for  their  lives  than  solely  the  domestic.  At 
the  same  time,  the  complex  nature  of  modern  business 
offered,  to  some  extent,  a  practical  solution  of  the  prob¬ 
lem.  While  the  question  of  woman’s  sphere  was  greatly 
agitated,  and  was  academically  and  forensically  debated 
pro  and  con,  women  themselves  were  practically  settling 
the  matter  at  issue  by  accepting  positions  in  commercial 
life,  with  little  regard  to  the  censure  of  critics  or  the  praise 
of  friends.  The  independence  shown  by  women,  their 
self-assertiveness,  indicated  that  their  failure  previously 
to  break  into  the  outer  world  of  affairs  was  not  due  to  the 
force  of  convention,  but  to  the  lack  of  opportunity.  Their 
excess  in  the  population  of  the  country  afforded  them 
strong  ground  for  the  claim,  which  they  practically  made 
in  accepting  the  opportunities  of  business  life,— that  the 
sphere  of  domesticity  was  not  open  to  them  all.  It  is  not 
a  question  as  to  whether  woman  is  or  is  not  in  her  sphere 
outside  of  the  home  or  the  limited  circle  of  aesthetic  follow¬ 
ing;  for  the  time  of  theorizing  is  already  past,  and  women 
have  become  so  identified  with  industry  as  to  preclude  the 
possibility  of  a  return  to  the  narrower  life.  Vestigia  nulla 
retrorsum  is  the  motto  of  woman  to-day,  and  has  been 
from  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  She  is  in 
the  line  of  progress,  and  following  her  manifest  destiny. 
The  fears  of  the  faint-hearted  and  the  regrets  of  the  con¬ 
servative  cannot  alter  the  established  fact  that  the  practical 


'Nv 

tv. 

J3 


*>  Si 

k  Hi 

Ki 

§  - 


*3 


•S' 


vs 


V> 


53k. 


V 

rsi 

k3 

3 

*N4 

tN. 

‘o 

Vi 

k 

Vi 

53 

>4 

tki 

Q» 

53 

<s 

t>» 

«: 


•K, 

Vi 

►*3 

53 

.53 

tV 

>Vi 


£ 

§ 


>*: 

<o 

53 

Vi 

Vi 

53 

Ni 

.53 

Vi 

V> 

53 

Vi 

■s 

*N4 

**k 

,>kk 

■JSi 

^3 

S3 

53 

v> 

•v!N 


Vu 

^3 

53 

5N4 


0<* 


5Sk 

5k4 

5"k 

^k 

.53 

Ni 

53 


V> 

5§ 

<3) 

S3 

tv 


tv 

(Vi 


*53 


5S4 

*  5N4 
'Ki 

•3 

53 

^0 

"■v, 

53 

.Vi 

rs4 

^3 


"Vi 

$3 

5-k 

5S4 


s 


'Vj 

k 

53 

Vi 

Vo 


53 

Vi 

tv 

tv 

Vi 

Vo 

k 

Vo 

vTV 


.k 

VO 

Vi 

.Vi 


V  1 

V 

V 

53 

Vo 


tv 

Vi 

<3 

53 

tv 

"53 

53 

Vi 

$ 

•$> 

Ni 

>4 

5ki 

.Va 

>>34 

k 

<0 

5S* 


.<0 

5S4 

k. 

Vi 

>v3 

53 

S3 

5S4 
.  5?v 
<Nk 

•S 

^0 


-o 


■S3 

.53 

5k4 

“N 

l>> 


K^O 

£ 


>s3 

Vi 

£ 

Vi 

iN 


I** 

Vi 

Vi 

.V 


"53 

5S4 


g 

>4 

5S* 

><4 

53 


£ 

53 

*S4 

tv3 


3> 

°o 

s 


*S4 
,  5v 
5S4 


<0 

5 

O 

^vk 
.  ^ 
4: 

|° 

53 

■Vi 

■Si 

Vi 

.'o 

Vi 

e3 

■Si 

A 


'tv 

^3 

S3 

53 

Vo 


Vi 

k 

Vi 


Vi 

v 

Vi 

v 

V. 

tv 

53 

3i 

t» 

"53 

Vi 

K^s 

^3 


N4 

5Ni 

sJSi 


53 

Vi 


k 

Vi 

<v 

Oi 

S3 

>4 
<Si 
*  TS4 

k 

53 

S3 

Vu 

>3 

<N» 

5V 

53 

Vi 

►JSi 


"53 


^3 

S3 

Vi 


"53 


s0 


■Si 


"53 

Vi 

Vi 

g 

k3 

»V4 

5S 

5V 

k 

><4 

5N4 


v 


v5 

»>4 

r-k 

53 

.  '-0 
Vi 

k 

"53 

5>k 

<3 

VI 

V. 

53 

.'o 

k 

5k4 

^k 

£ 

sg 

k 

V) 

<3 

■tv, 


"So 

5k4 


the  promotion  of  education  of  the  needy ,  religious  movements ,  the 
cause  of  freedom ,  and  private  charity. 


1 /SO"/  £/.  otA/ues  cfy 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  345 

status  which  women  achieved  in  the  nineteenth  century  is 
theirs,  to  be  recognized  and  furthered. 

The  views  prevailing  in  the  nineteenth  century  with 
regard  to  matrimony  were  not  greatly  different  from  those 
of  the  eighteenth:  it  was  considered  just  as  discreditable 
to  be  an  old  maid,  and  marriage  was  the  goal  of  existence 
for  young  women;  but  there  was  a  portion  of  the  sex  who 
were  willing  to  brave  the  aspersions  cast  upon  them  and 
to  remain  single — when  the  opportunity  to  do  otherwise 
was  not  wanting — in  order  that  they  might  follow  careers 
which  offered  to  them  greater  interest  or  profit.  It  was 
inevitable  that  such  choice  should  lay  them  open  to  the 
charge  of  unsexing  themselves  and  of  being  recreant  to 
that  esprit  de  corps  of  womankind  which  finds  its  common 
interest  in  the  achieving  of  matrimony.  Women  would 
never  have  wrought  out  their  independence  of  action  if 
there  had  not  been  a  great  widening  of  life’s  opportunities. 
The  ease  of  locomotion,  abundant  opportunities  for  educa¬ 
tion,  and  the  lightening  of  domestic  labor  by  inventions, 
were  the  important  factors  which  made  it  possible  for 
women  to  step  out  into  the  avenues  of  active  business. 
The  middle-class  women,  who  were  thrust  out  into  the 
arena  of  life,  were  still  the  women  who  best  preserved 
the  pure  idea  of  marriage.  They  were  not  subjected  to  the 
temptations  which  assailed  those  in  the  higher  and  the 
lower  ranks  of  society,  and,  being  less  affected  by  tradi¬ 
tion,  they  wrought  out  for  themselves  independent  ideals. 
The  marriage  of  convenience  of  the  higher  ranks  and  the 
marriage  of  necessity  of  the  lower  were  not  the  forms 
which  were  common  to  the  middle-class  women.  Unaf¬ 
fected  by  either  of  these  influences,  they  regarded  well 
the  character  of  the  men  to  whom  they  were  to  plight 
their  troth,  and  were  not  disposed  to  pass  over  the  weak¬ 
nesses  of  suitors.  Marriages  were  no  longer  contracted  at 


346 


WOMAN 


the  early  ages  of  fifteen  and  sixteen  years,  which  had  been 
commonly  the  case  heretofore.  A  bride  under  twenty-one 
was  thought  very  youthful. 

The  entrance  of  woman  into  the  ranks  of  labor  has  not 
been  uncontested,  for  she  has  been  charged  with  taking 
the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  husbands  and  fathers;  and, 
by  working  for  much  less  wage  than  is  given  the  men,  she 
has  been  thought  dangerously  to  affect  the  standard  of 
payment  for  men’s  work.  Just  what  will  be  the  effect 
of  the  innovation  of  woman  in  industry  cannot  at  present 
be  stated,  as  she  has  not  as  yet  gotten  into  normal  and 
recognized  relationship  to  men  as  a  sharer  of  their  work. 
One  effect,  however,  of  woman’s  contact  with  the  other 
sex  in  the  brusque  business  world  has  been  to  reduce  her 
claim  to  special  consideration  in  the  way  of  the  amenities 
which  were  accorded  her  at  a  time  when  she  was  not 
nearly  so  sincerely  respected  as  she  has  become  in  recent 
years.  A  modern  writer  has  summed  up  the  matter  in 
the  following  words:  “  Not  the  least  among  the  changes  is 
that  effected  by  the  fuller  and  freer  life  led  by  all  women. 
A  greater  companionship  and  friendship  is  permitted  them 
with  the  other  sex;  there  is  a  larger  sharing  of  interest, 
and  women  are  expected  to  have  a  higher  standard  of 
education  and  to  conceal  their  knowledge  and  culture  with 
tasteful  skill.  Their  interest  in  the  political  life  of  the 
country,  and  their  acknowledged  usefulness  in  their  place 
in  the  working  out  of  the  political  machine,  the  works, 
philanthropical  and  social,  which  are  admitted  by  all  to 
be  within  their  sphere,  have  broadened  and  deepened  the 
stream  of  life  which  is  common  to  both  sexes,  and  brought 
the  social  life  on  to  a  different  level.” 

This  broadening  influence  brought  greater  recognition  of 
woman’s  activities  in  social  and  philanthropic  measures 
and  a  corresponding  increase  of  responsibility  on  her  part. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  347 


There  are  many  women  of  this  century  whose  noble  deeds 
will  never  be  forgotten,  but  one  may  be  singled  out  as  a 
splendid  example  of  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  to  others. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry  was  a  Quakeress  of  gentle  birth; 
though  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  she  made  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  social  outcasts  her  constant  care.  She  was,  in 
truth,  a  worthy  successor  to  John  Howard.  The  moral 
and  physical  degradation  and  suffering  of  the  inmates  of 
prisons  particularly  appealed  to  her  compassionate  nature, 
and  she  set  herself  the  task  of  alleviating  their  condition. 
Her  first  visit  to  Newgate  Prison  was  in  1813;  alone  and 
unprotected,  she  entered  the  pandemonium  where  nearly 
two  hundred  women  were  confined,  among  them  some  of 
the  most  degraded  and  desperate  of  their  sex.  Mrs.  Fry’s 
sincere  compassion,  gentleness,  and  purity  conquered  these 
women.  Four  years  later  she  organized  an  association  for 
the  reformation  of  female  prisoners.  Though  her  name  is 
chiefly  associated  with  the  reform  of  prisons  and  prisoners, 
her  philanthropy  embraced  the  promotion  of  education  of 
the  needy,  religious  movements,  the  cause  of  freedom,  and 
private  charity.  The  influence  of  this  good  woman  was 
widespread,  and  her  labors  were  not  confined  to  her  own 
country,  but  extended  to  the  continent  of  Europe. 

1 

One  of  the  most  striking  of  the  phenomena  of  modern 
life  which  came  about  in  the  nineteenth  century  is  the 
fusion  of  classes,  making  it  increasingly  difficult  to  use 
class  definitions.  The  passage  from  one  to  another  has 
become  so  easy  as  to  make  mobility  the  principal  charac¬ 
teristic  of  modern  society.  Travel,  education,  art  appre¬ 
ciation,  and  home  decoration  are  not  confined  to  any  section 
or  class.  The  degree  of  luxury  of  living,  and  not  the  dis¬ 
tinction  between  luxury  and  lack,  is  the  only  way  to  set 
aside  one  circle  of  society  from  another.  A  result  of 
this  wider  diffusion  of  the  comforts  of  life  has  been  the 


348 


WOMAN 


awakening  of  the  altruistic  spirit,  which  finds  expression 
in  many  and  varied  benevolences — so  many,  in  fact,  that 
the  danger  of  the  times  is  over-organization.  This  ten¬ 
dency,  if  pursued,  will  react  to  the  disadvantage  of  women 
by  depriving  them  of  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility  and 
individual  initiative. 

The  assumption  by  society,  as  a  whole,  of  the  responsi¬ 
bility  of  its  members  of  necessity  gives  an  organized  form 
to  all  efforts  for  its  improvement.  The  nature  of  prob¬ 
lems  of  this  sort  requires  wide  organization  in  order  to 
bring  into  touch  with  the  social  need,  for  its  satisfying,  as 
many  persons  as  possible  of  means  and  talent.  If  the 
philanthropist  is  rich,  she  employs  her  money  as  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  her  interest  in  and  recognition  of  her  duty 
toward  society.  If  not  wealthy,  but  possessed  of  time 
and  talent,  the  woman  herself  becomes  the  instrument 
of  social  amelioration,  and  the  money  from  the  coffers  of 
others  is  placed  in  her  hands  for  judicious  expenditure. 
The  great  interest  in  philanthropy  which  in  modern  times 
is  evinced  by  all  classes  of  society  tends  to  unite  the 
women  of  to-day  in  a  bond  of  common  sympathy  and  pur¬ 
pose.  It  is  not  solely  because  they  have  more  abundant 
leisure  than  men  that  the  burden  of  philanthropy  rests 
upon  their  shoulders,  for  their  wider  sympathy  and  clearer 
insight  lead  them  to  perceive  more  readily  and  to  meet 
more  effectively  the  needs  of  mankind. 

One  of  the  prominent  women  of  England  who  gave 
herself  largely  to  benevolent  labors  was  the  Baroness 
Burdett-Coutts.  The  generous  and  wise  use  of  her  im¬ 
mense  fortune  has  secured  her  an  enduring  name;  she 
built  churches,  she  founded  charities;  and  although  Lon¬ 
don  was  the  chief  field  for  her  philanthropy,  her  native 
country  of  Ireland  was  remembered  in  a  way  to  shrine  her 
name  there  in  grateful  memory.  She  possessed  the  spirit 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  349 

of  the  great  ladies  of  old  England,  who  felt  a  responsibility 
toward  the  dependent  and  necessitous  classes  about  them, 
and  to  this  spirit  she  gave  the  wide  expression  her  for¬ 
tune  and  her  exceptional  environment  made  possible.  The 
great  variety  of  her  benevolent  sympathies  and  the  per¬ 
sonal  part  she  took  in  the  various  charities  which  enlisted 
them  cause  her  life  to  mark  an  era  in  the  history  of 
philanthropy.  There  was  nothing  beyond  the  catholicity 
of  her  spirit. 

The  modern  temperance  movement,  which  enlisted 
largely  the  interest  of  the  women  of  England  and  America, 
and  which  led,  in  the  latter  country,  to  the  organization  of 
the  Women’s  Christian  Temperance  Union,  found  its  best 
representative  in  England  in  the  person  of  Lady  Henry 
Somerset.  Lady  Somerset’s  efforts  in  behalf  of  temper¬ 
ance  and  social  reforms  in  England  are  too  much  matters 
of  present-day  knowledge  to  need  more  than  a  notice  of 
them  in  these  pages;  they  have  enrolled  her  name  in  the 
list  of  great  women  of  the  century,  where  it  had  already 
been  long  placed  by  the  affections  of  a  nation.  Another 
expression  of  the  interest  of  women  in  society  is  found  in 
the  Young  Women’s  Christian  Association,  Girls’  Friendly 
Society,  the  Metropolitan  Association  for  Befriending  Young 
Servants,  and  other  organizations  which  care  for  the  inter¬ 
ests  of  young  women  exposed  to  imposition  or  temptation. 
It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  even  the  more  important  of 
the  organizations  which  owe  their  institution  to  women 
and  are  conducted  by  the  sex  for  the  benefit  of  society. 
Wide  as  has  been  the  field  in  the  past,  new  phases  of 
modern  life  are  constantly  coming  under  the  purview  of 
women’s  societies,  which,  although  to  a  large  extent  vol¬ 
untary,  are  none  the  less  splendidly  organized  and  disci¬ 
plined  forces,  occupying,  for  the  most  part,  independent 
fields. 


350 


WOMAN 


Woman  as  a  nurse  is  not  a  new  aspect  of  her  nature, 
but  not  until  the  last  quarter  of  the  century  was  nursing 
elevated  to  the  dignity  of  a  profession.  There  were  not 
wanting  women  who  bore  the  title  of  professional  nurse, 
but  these  did  not  have  the  training  to  justify  the  name. 
Before  the  Crimean  War  there  were  upward  of  two  thou¬ 
sand  five  hundred  such  nurses  in  England.  Florence 
Nightingale,  whose  name  will  ever  be  identified  with  the 
founding  of  schools  for  nurses,  said:  “Sickness  is  every¬ 
where.  Death  is  everywhere.  But  hardly  anywhere  is 
the  training  necessary  to  relieve  sickness,  to  delay  death. 
We  consider  a  long  education  and  discipline  necessary  to 
train  our  medical  man;  we  consider  hardly  any  training  at 
all  necessary  for  our  nurse,  although  how  often  does  our 
medical  man  himself  tell  us,  ‘  I  can  do  nothing  for  you 
unless  your  nurse  will  carry  out  what  I  say.’  ”  The 
revelation  of  suffering  on  the  part  of  uncared-for  soldiers 
which  Miss  Nightingale  brought  back  from  the  Crimea 
profoundly  moved  English  society;  and  a  large  sum  of 
money  was  presented  to  her,  with  which  she  founded  the 
Nurses’  Training  Institution  at  St.  Thomas’s  Hospital.  At 
about  the  same  time,  the  Anglican  sisterhood  founded 
training  schools  of  a  similar  kind.  From  these  sources 
arose  the  sentiment  for  trained  service  for  the  sick  which 
has  led  to  the  wide  respect  with  which  modern  society 
regards  the  nurse  who  has  been  thoroughly  trained  for  her 
profession.  This  feeling  toward  nurses  is  in  striking  con¬ 
trast  to  the  one  which  prevailed  before  the  days  of  special 
training:  that  which  was  once  considered  a  degrading 
occupation  has  come  to  be  thought  of  as  an  ennobling 
ministry.  In  1870,  the  date  of  the  founding  of  the  Metro¬ 
politan  and  National  Nursing  Association  by  the  Duke  of 
-  Westminster,  James  Hinton,  in  a  paper  in  the  Cornhill 
Magazine  on  “Nursing  as  a  Profession,”  called  attention 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  35 1 

to  this  new  activity  as  a  trained  service  for  women:  “It 
is  considered,  though  an  excellent  and  most  respectable 
vocation,  not  one  for  a  lady  to  follow  as  a  means  of  liveli¬ 
hood,  unless  she  is  content  to  sink  a  little  in  the  social 
scale.  .  .  .  Can  any  one  think  it  is,  in  its  own  nature, 
more  menial  than  surgery?  Could  any  occupation  what¬ 
ever  call  more  emphatically  for  the  qualities  characteris¬ 
tically  termed  professional,  or  better  known  as  those  of 
the  gentleman  and  the  lady?  .  .  .  Here  is  a  profession, 
truly  a  profession,  equal  to  the  highest  in  dignity,  open  to 
woman  in  which  she  does  not  compete  with  man.” 

Nursing  no  longer  has  to  be  defended  as  a  suitable  occu¬ 
pation  for  the  sex,  for  in  its  ranks  can  be  found  women  of 
all  grades  of  society;  it  is  one  of  the  levelling  influences 
of  modern  times,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  elevating  of 
callings.  No  other  sphere  of  public  activity  has  opened 
up  to  woman  in  which  she  has  not  met  the  opposition  of 
men.  Nursing  is  a  striking  instance  of  the  modern  trend 
toward  specialization,  which  is  but  another  term  for  pro¬ 
fessionalism.  Consonant  with  the  whole  spirit  of  the 
times,  the  amateur  nurse  was  relegated  to  the  background 
by  the  modern  trained  nurse. 

Society,  however,  has  not  taken  so  kindly  to  women’s 
departure  in  another  direction:  women  as  physicians  are 
still  regarded  as  a  novelty  and  a  doubtful  expedient.  Nurs¬ 
ing  created  a  profession,  and  so  conservative  sentiment 
did  not  have  to  be  met;  but  the  old  faculties  of  law,  medi¬ 
cine,  and  theology  had  been  so  long  intrenched  in  their 
privileged  places  in  relation  to  society  that  any  attempt  to 
widen  their  confines  or  to  enlist  their  hospitality  toward 
innovations  is  met  with  the  resistance  which  custom  and 
precedent  always  present  to  novelty.  Although  their 
progress  into  the  medical  profession  has  been  slow,  yet 
the  nineteenth  century  records  the  opening  of  this  calling 


352 


WOMAN 


to  women.  During  the  last  quarter  of  the  century  women 
were  admitted  to  the  ranks  of  accredited  practitioners. 
Yet,  the  vocation  is  not  a  novel  one  for  the  sex,  for  in  the 
remote  past  they  have  been  looked  upon  as  possessing 
knowledge  and  skill  in  the  treatment  of  diseases;  but,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  woman  who  followed  the  art  of  healing 
as  a  profession  was  often  regarded  as  in  league  with  the 
powers  of  evil.  Down  to  the  nineteenth  century,  women 
never  held  any  recognized  place  as  practitioners,  excepting 
in  the  capacity  of  midwives. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  there  were,  outside  of  the 
recognized  profession,  a  number  of  women  who  practised 
medicine  with  considerable  success;  but,  although  skilful, 
they  would  be  regarded  to-day  as  mere  quacks.  Mrs.  Jo¬ 
anna  Stephens,  who  proclaimed  that  she  had  found  a  re¬ 
markable  cure  for  a  painful  disease,  appears  to  have  been 
so  successful  in  her  treatment  of  cases  as  to  enlist  genuine 
respect  for  her  attainments.  Parliament  voted  her  a  grant 
of  five  thousand  pounds  sterling.  Mrs.  Mapp,  commonly 
termed  “Crazy  Sally/’  who  had  repute  as  a  bonesetter, 
received  from  the  town  of  Epsom  the  offer  of  an  annuity 
of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling  if  she  would  remain  in  that 
neighborhood.  She  was  such  a  popular  character  that  the 
managers  of  Lincoln’s  Inn  Fields  Theatre  sent  her  a  special 
request  to  attend  a  performance  at  which  they  desired  to 
have  a  large  audience.  She  complied,  and  the  attendance 
was  satisfactory. 

Early  in  the  century  there  was  a  renewal  of  attempts 
which  had  formerly  been  made  to  require  women  who 
practised  obstetrics  to  come  under  some  form  of  registra¬ 
tion;  but  when  the  matter  came  before  Parliament,  in 
the  form  of  an  enactment  prepared  by  the  Society  of 
Apothecaries,  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  re¬ 
ported  that  “It  would  not  allow  any  mention  of  female 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  353 

midwives. ”  Although  women  were  not  received  into  the 
regular  profession  as  qualified  practitioners  until  after 
the  middle  of  the  century,  they  were  under  no  legal  prohi¬ 
bition  to  practise  medicine;  but  in  1858  the  passage  of  the 
Medical  Act,  which  required  a  doctor  to  qualify  by  passing 
the  examination  of  one  of  the  existing  medical  boards,  set 
up  a  barrier  to  women,  as  it  placed  them  subject  to  the 
discretion  of  the  boards,  which  unanimously  refused  to 
admit  them.  The  only  exceptions  to  this  rule  were  made  in 
favor  of  those  persons  who  had  received  a  medical  degree 
abroad  and  had  been  practising  before  the  passage  of  the 
act.  It  was  in  this  way  that  Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell  be¬ 
came  registered.  Miss  Elizabeth  Garret,  whose  studies 
did  not  begin  till  two  years  after  the  compulsory  registra¬ 
tion  law,  was  also  enrolled  under  exceptional  conditions. 

At  last  matters  came  to  an  issue,  and  a  notable  struggle 
occurred  which  marked  an  era  in  the  medical  profession  of 
England  in  its  attitude  toward  female  practitioners.  The 
case  of  Miss  Sophia  Jex-Blake  brought  on  the  contest. 
She  applied  to  the  London  University  for  admission,  and 
was  informed  that  the  charter  of  that  institution  had  been 
purposely  framed  to  exclude  women  who  sought  medical 
degrees.  Returning  to  Edinburgh,  she  exhausted  every 
legal  resource  in  a  combat  with  the  authorities,  and  was 
signally  worsted.  The  plucky  fight  she  made  won  the 
admiration  of  Sir  James  Simpson,  the  dean  of  the  medical 
faculty,  and  others,  but  Professor  Laycock  observed  to 
her  that  he  “could  not  imagine  any  decent  woman  wish¬ 
ing  to  study  medicine;  as  for  any  lady,  that  was  out  of  the 
question.”  Success  finally  crowned  persistent  endeavor, 
and,  the  University  Court  having  passed  a  resolution  that 
“  Women  shall  be  admitted  to  the  study  of  medicine  in  the 
university,”  Miss  Jex-Blake  and  four  other  ladies  passed 
the  preliminary  examinations  for  entrance.  Other  women 


354 


WOMAN 


soon  entered  the  open  door;  but  the  contest  was  not  yet 
ended,  for,  after  these  ladies  had  pursued  their  studies  for 
three  years  and  paid  the  fees,  they  were  informed  by  the 
University  Court  that  no  arrangement  could  be  effected 
by  which  they  could  continue  their  studies  with  a  view  to 
a  degree,  instead  of  which  they  were  offered  certificates 
of  proficiency;  the  latter,  however,  would  not  be  recog¬ 
nized  by  the  Medical  Act.  They  then  took  legal  measures 
to  secure  redress,  and  followed  the  matter  up  by  a  bill  in 
Parliament,  which  was  lost.  In  1876  another  bill  was 
introduced  to  enable  all  British  examining  bodies  to  extend 
their  examinations  and  qualifications  to  women,  and  this 
became  a  law.  A  number  of  colleges  availed  themselves 
of  the  privilege  and  opened  their  doors  to  women,  until  at 
the  present  time  there  are  medical  schools  for  women  in  a 
number  of  the  principal  cities  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland. 

The  advance  of  women  in  the  professions  was  in  line 
with  the  general  widening  of  the  educational  horizon  of 
the  sex.  Partly  as  the  result  of  her  broader  education, 
and  partly  as  a  cause  of  it,  there  was  a  juster  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  the  relative  position  of  the  sexes,  and  into  this 
there  entered  as  well  the  new  economic  measure  of  value. 
Society  was  no  longer  regarded  as  a  congeries  of  indi¬ 
viduals,  but  as  an  organism,  and  an  organism  whose  func¬ 
tion  was  chiefly  the  creation  of  wealth.  This  broader 
economic  estimate  of  society  could  but  be  favorable  to 
women,  whose  valuation  as  a  part  of  the  commonwealth 
was  largely  regulated  by  their  utility.  The  ideal  of  polit¬ 
ical  economy  is  that  everyone  shall  be  employed,  and 
employed  at  that  for  which  he  is  best  adapted,  under  the 
condition  of  freedom  of  self-development.  The  prevalence 
of  such  truer  theories  of  society  aided  in  dispelling  the 
mists  of  error  which  had  surrounded  the  popular  notions 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  355 


as  to  women.  Buckle  observes,  in  his  Influence  of  Women 
on  the  Progress  of  Knowledge ,  that  women  are  quicker  in 
thought  than  men,  and  he  says:  “Nothing  could  prevent 
its  being  universally  admitted  except  the  fact  that  the 
remarkable  rapidity  with  which  women  think  is  obscured 
by  that  miserable,  that  contemptible,  that  preposterous 
system  called  their  education,  in  which  valuable  things 
are  carefully  kept  from  them,  and  trifling  things  carefully 
taught  to  them,  until  their  fine  and  nimble  minds  are  too 
often  irretrievably  injured. ” 

The  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  a  com¬ 
plete  revolution  in  the  constituents  of  girls’  education. 
French,  dancing,  flower  painting,  and  music  no  longer 
comprised  a  young  lady’s  accomplishments.  The  fear  of 
singularity,  which  was  a  social  bugbear  to  the  young 
women  of  other  generations,  no  longer  served  to  prevent 
them  from  studying  classics  and  mathematics  and  science. 
To-day,  they  are  expected  to  add  their  quota  to  the  con¬ 
tribution  of  the  times,  in  thought  as  well  as  in  the  graces 
of  deportment.  The  latter  can  no  longer  atone  for  the 
absence  of  the  former.  It  is  no  more  the  case  among 
the  middle  classes  that  only  the  girl  who  intends  fitting 
herself  to  take  the  position  of  governess  needs  an  educa¬ 
tion  above  the  rudiments  and  the  embellishments.  Not 
the  least  of  the  departures  in  the  educational  scheme  for 
women  is  the  notable  change  of  attitude  which  has  taken 
place  with  regard  to  the  development  of  their  bodies.  It 
is  but  recently  that  physical  training  has  entered  into  the 
curriculum  of  colleges,  but  it  is  even  more  recently  that 
an  opinion  has  prevailed  favorable  to  the  physical  culture 
of  women. 

Before  the  educational  revolution  occurred,  women  were 
making  their  mark  in  intellectual  spheres.  In  1835  the 
names  of  two  women,  Mary  Somerville  and  Caroline 


356 


WOMAN 


Herschell,  were  enrolled  as  members  of  the  Astronomical 
Society.  In  its  report  containing  the  recommendation  of 
the  election  of  these  ladies,  the  council  of  the  society 
observed:  “Your  Council  has  no  small  pleasure  in  recom¬ 
mending  that  the  names  of  two  ladies  distinguished  in 
astronomy  be  placed  on  the  list  of  honorary  members. 
On  the  propriety  of  such  a  step  from  an  astronomical  point 
of  view,  there  can  be  but  one  voice:  and  your  Council  is 
of  opinion  that  the  time  is  gone  by  when  either  feeling  or 
prejudice,  by  whichever  name  it  may  be  proper  to  call  it, 
should  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  payment  of  a  well- 
earned  tribute  of  respect.  Your  Council  has  hitherto  felt 
that,  whatever  might  be  its  own  sentiment  on  the  subject, 
or  however  able  and  willing  it  might  be  to  defend  such  a 
measure,  it  had  no  right  to  place  the  name  of  a  lady  in 
a  position  the  propriety  of  which  might  be  contested, 
though  upon  what  it  might  consider  narrow  grounds  and 
false  principles.  But  your  Council  has  no  fear  that  such 
a  difference  could  now  take  place  between  any  men  whose 
opinion  would  avail  to  guide  that  of  society  at  large, 
and,  abandoning  compliments  on  the  one  hand,  and  false 
delicacy  on  the  other,  submits  that  while  the  tests  of 
astronomical  merit  should  in  no  case  be  applied  to  the 
works  of  a  woman  less  severely  than  to  those  of  man, 
the  sex  of  the  former  should  no  longer  be  an  obstacle  to 
her  receiving  any  acknowledgment  which  might  be  held 
due  the  latter.  And  your  Council,  therefore,  recommends 
this  meeting  to  add  to  the  list  of  honorary  members  the 
names  of  Miss  Caroline  Herschell  and  Mrs.  Somerville,  of 
whose  astronomical  knowledge,  and  of  the  utility  of  the 
ends  to  which  it  has  been  applied,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
recount  the  proofs.” 

Mrs.  Somerville  suffered  from  the  educational  limita¬ 
tions  of  her  day,  and  when  she  desired  to  learn  Latin,  in 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  357 


order  that  she  might  study  the  Principia,  she  referred  to 
Professor  Playfair  with  regard  to  the  propriety  of  her 
doing  so,  and  was  assured  by  him  that  there  was  no  im¬ 
propriety  involved  for  the  purpose  she  had  in  mind.  At 
that  time  there  were  many  women  with  the  best  of  edu¬ 
cation,  acquired  outside  of  university  halls,  but  such  were 
usually  brought  up  by  scholarly  parents  possessed  of  well- 
stocked  libraries.  To-day,  the  position  of  Ruskin  is  a  com¬ 
monplace  of  experience.  In  his  lecture  on  the  Queen's 
Gardens,  he  advised  that  women  have  free  access  to  books, 
and  asserted  that  they  would  find  out  for  themselves  the 
wholesome  and  avoid  the  pernicious  with  an  instinct  as 
unerring  as  that  which  directs  the  browsing  of  sheep  in 
pasture  lands.  It  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated  that 
wholesome-minded  girls  are  ever  less  in  danger  of  con¬ 
tamination  from  literature  than  are  their  brothers. 

The  opening  of  Queen’s  College  in  1848  marked  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  an  attempt  to  give  a  wider  education  to  women. 
This  college  grew  out  of  the  Governesses’  Benevolent 
Institution.  It  was  a  training  school  for  teachers,  a  normal 
institute;  but,  besides  this,  it  was  open  to  all  who  cared 
to  enter.  The  name  of  that  leader  in  modern  educational 
movements,  Frederick  Denison  Maurice,  was  identified 
with  this  departure.  In  the  face  of  hostile  comment,  he 
defended  the  system  which  was  adopted  by  himself  and 
his  brother  professors,  all  of  whom  had  come  from  King’s 
College.  The  educational  opportunities  offered  by  this 
college  were  exceptional;  the  fees  were  low,  and  many 
students  hastened  to  avail  themselves  of  the  new  privilege. 

It  was  twenty  years  later,  however,  before  there  was 
fought  out  the  issue  through  which  women  came  to  be  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  universities.  In  1856,  Miss  Jessie  Merriton 
White  was  applying  vainly  for  admittance  to  the  matricu¬ 
lation  examination  of  the  University  of  London.  In  1869, 


r  t  f  r ;  u  ,  f  <(}( r  4  \  *  w*  i ,  l ' 


358 


WOMAN 


Girton  College,  the  building  of  which  cost  fourteen  thou¬ 
sand  seven  hundred  pounds  sterling,  was  established  largely 
through  the  efforts  of  women.  It  was  intended  to  afford 
training  for  women  along  university  lines,  and  the  plan  of 
study  was  modelled  on  that  of  Cambridge  University;  the 
idea  in  the  adoption  of  this  parallel  course  was  to  estab¬ 
lish  beyond  doubt  women’s  fitness  for  pursuing  the  same 
studies  as  men.  Other  colleges  of  the  same  nature  were 
founded  soon  after. 

In  the  last  century,  the  old  theory  that  women  were  not 
capable  of  higher  education  on  account  of  the  “  moisture 
of  their  brains  ”  was  not  one  of  the  pleas  upon  which  was 
based  the  opposition  to  the  higher  education  of  women. 
The  more  plausible  ground  was  taken  that  women  ought 
to  avoid  certain  lines  of  study  which  are  a  part  of  a  uni¬ 
versity  course.  But  it  is  coming  to  be  realized  that  the 
proprieties  of  knowledge  do  not  reside  in  the  subject  or 
in  the  sex  of  the  student — that  whatever  is  important  for 
higher  investigation  is  worthy  of  the  pursuit  of  women  as 
well  as  men,  and  can  be  pursued  by  them  at  the  . point 
of  ripened  discretion  to  which  they  have  arrived  when 
capable  of  meeting  the  requirements  for  entrance  into  a 
university. 

The  high-school  system  that  has  developed  in  England 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  done  much  for  the 
education  of  the  middle  classes,  affording  sound  instruction 
and  mental  discipline  for  all.  At  the  present  day,  poor 
girls,  who,  if  they  were  dependent  upon  their  personal  re¬ 
sources,  would  never  acquire  an  education,  have  wider 
facilities  than  were  enjoyed  by  the  women  of  the  aris¬ 
tocracy  a  century  earlier. 

Of  those  who  promoted  the  secondary  education  for 
girls,  perhaps  no  name  among  female  educators  in  England 
stands  higher  than  that  of  Frances  Mary  Buss.  Her 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  359 


splendid  powers  of  organization  and  administration  raised 
to  such  a  degree  of  efficiency  the  private  school  which  she 
had  established  in  the  north  of  London,  that,  when  the 
Brewers  Company  desired  to  invest  a  sum  of  money  for 
the  education  of  girls,  it  entered  into  negotiations  with 
Miss  Buss  and  acquired  her  establishment,  retaining  her  as 
head  mistress. 

Voluminous  as  are  the  works  of  women  in  the  realm  of 
fiction,  it  is  nevertheless  a  field  little  exploited  by  them 
until  recent  years.  In  the  eighteenth  century  the  sex 
had  produced  few  historians,  poets,  or  essayists  who  could 
be  compared  with  the  group  of  romance  writers  which  in¬ 
cluded  such  names  as  Catherine  Macauley,  Eliza  Haywood, 
Elizabeth  Carter,  Fanny  Burney,  Mrs.  Inchbald,  and  Mrs. 
Radcliffe;  but  when  we  pass  to  the  nineteenth  century, 
while  women  as  romanticists  are  more  prominent  than 
women  as  authors  in  any  other  field,  there  is  no  limit  upon 
the  versatility  which  they  exhibit,  and  all  branches  of 
literature  have  felt  their  moulding  impress.  To  take  the 
names  of  women  out  of  the  list  of  authors  of  the  nineteenth 
century  would  be  to  diminish  the  glory  of  the  literary 
skies  by  blotting  out  the  lustre  of  some  of  its  brightest 
constellations. 

Beginning  with  Jane  Austin  and  continuing  to  Mrs. 
Humphry  Ward,  the  line  of  literary  descent  in  the  realm 
of  fiction  is  a  roll  of  honor  for  womankind;  but  it  is  a  far 
cry  from  these  to  that  earliest  of  women  novelists,  Mrs. 
Aphra  Behn,  who,  at  the  direction  of  Charles  II.,  wrote 
her  novel  Oronooko,  the  purpose  of  which  was  not  dis¬ 
similar  to  the  social  end  which  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe 
had  in  mind  in  her  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.  Thus,  the  six¬ 
teenth  century  is  brought  into  touch  with  the  nineteenth, 
although  the  connecting  links  were  few  and  slight  until 
the  middle  of  the  latter.  The  number  of  women  novelists 


360 


WOMAN 


indicates  that  women  have  found  in  fiction  the  line  of 
literary  pursuit  which  is  most  agreeable  to  their  tastes 
and  adapted  to  their  natures.  There  seems  to  be  abso¬ 
lutely  no  limit  to  the  range  of  subjects  which  women  are 
capable  of  working  up  in  romance;  whether  in  novels  of 
incident  or  novels  of  character,  treating  historical  or  social 
subjects,  didactic  or  imaginative  themes,  with  the  plot  in 
any  period  of  time,  among  any  people  or  set  of  conditions, 
women  writers  appear  to  be  equally  at  home. 

While  the  vast  majority  of  literary  women  have  been 
writers  of  fiction,  every  branch  of  literature  numbers  in 
its  promoters  the  names  of  eminent  females.  In  poetry 
and  in  dramatic  literature  women  have  not  achieved  the 
fame  of  men.  Lord  Byron  gave  as  the  reason  for  women’s 
apparent  lack  of  imaginative  and  creative  power  that  they 
had  not  seen  and  felt  enough  of  life.  As  translators, 
editors,  compilers,  as  writers  on  social  topics  and  current 
questions,  as  well  as  on  educational  subjects,  memoirs, 
travels,  literary  studies,  they  have  been  prolific  and  ex¬ 
cellent  workers.  Besides  which,  they  have  given  to 
journalistic  and  magazine  work  their  special  capabilities. 

Women  no  longer  fear  to  write  under  their  own  names, 
and  do  not  resort  to  pseudonyms  as  did  Charlotte  Bronte, 
and  Mary  Ann  Evans — George  Eliot.  It  was  at  one  time 
thought  that  the  demands  of  research  and  study  outside  of 
the  range  of  ordinary  feminine  acquaintance  precluded  the 
sex  from  doing  many  forms  of  intellectual  work  which 
were  open  to  men.  Fiction  did  not  present  special  diffi¬ 
culties;  and  as  the  line  of  least  resistance,  as  well  as  that 
of  especial  adaptation,  women  took  to  this  form  of  writing. 

At  the  present  day,  however,  there  is  no  question  as 
to  woman’s  faithfulness,  accuracy,  and  ability  to  attend  to 
detail;  and  so  there  are  no  lines  of  research  or  of  author¬ 
ship  in  which  women  are  not  engaged.  This  is  in  part 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  361 

due  to  the  similar  lines  upon  which  women  and  men  are 
now  educated.  Their  broad  acquaintance  with  the  whole 
range  of  intellectual  subjects  eminently  fits  the  sex  for 
special  work  in  any  department.  To  distinguish  by  their 
method  of  treatment  the  writings  of  women  is  no  longer 
possible.  Their  pens  have  the  same  grace  and  vigor  of 
style  as  those  of  men,  while  there  is  no  fineness  or 
daintiness  of  touch  in  their  writings  which  does  not  find 
counterpart  in  those  of  men. 

The  fiction  of  the  century  reveals  woman  intrepidly  dis¬ 
cussing  political,  economic,  and  labor  questions  with  a 
large  degree  of  assurance,  and  others  with  a  great  deal  of 
acuteness  and  insight.  Although  there  is  intense  competi¬ 
tion  in  the  realm  of  literature,  yet  the  complexity  of 
modern  society,  the  universality  of  education,  the  oppor¬ 
tunities  of  leisure  for  reading,  the  social  demands  for 
acquaintance  with  standard  and  recent  works,  and  the  in¬ 
citement  to  reading  given  through  the  newspapers,  maga¬ 
zines,  book  reviews,  and  lectures  of  the  times,  furnish 
unlimited  opportunities  for  gifted  women  to  exercise  their 
talents  in  writing. 

It  was  not  until  1861  that  women  were  admitted  to  all 
the  privileges  and  opportunities  of  art  education  which 
centred  in  the  Royal  Academy  schools.  In  that  year 
these  were  opened  to  women  students.  It  is  interesting 
to  notice  how  in  almost  an  accidental  manner  the  limita¬ 
tions  placed  upon  women  were  removed.  At  the  annual 
dinner  of  the  Academy  in  1859,  Lord  Lyndhurst  felicitated 
those  present  on  the  benefits  which  were  conferred  upon 
all  her  majesty’s  subjects  by  the  Academy  schools.  Miss 
Laura  Herford,  an  artist,  wrote  to  Lord  Lyndhurst  and 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  half  of  her  majesty’s  subjects 
were  excluded.  This  made  the  discussion  of  the  pro¬ 
priety  of  admitting  women  a  kindly  one,  and  a  memorial  was 


362 


WOMAN 


prepared  and  signed  by  thirty-eight  women  artists,  copies 
of  which  were  sent  to  every  member  of  the  Academy,  pray¬ 
ing  the  admission  of  women  and  pointing  out  the  benefit  it 
would  be  to  them  to  study,  under  qualified  teachers,  from 
the  antique  and  from  life.  It  was  regarded  as  imprac¬ 
ticable  that  women  and  men  should  study  life  subjects 
together,  and  the  request  was  refused.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  constitution  of  the  Academy  either  for  or  against 
the  admission  of  women.  A  drawing  with  the  signature 
“  L.  Herford”  was  then  sent  in  by  Miss  Herford,  and  it 
was  admitted  by  a  letter  addressed  to  “  L.  Herford,  Esq.” 
The  question  then  arose  whether  a  woman  who  had  been 
accepted  as  a  man  should  be  allowed  to  enter.  Miss  Herford 
had  her  way. 

No  women  had  been  admitted  into  the  Academy  since 
the  days  of  Angelica  Kaufmann  and  Mary  Moser.  The 
reason  for  their  non-reception,  as  assigned  by  Sanby  in 
his  History  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts,  and  quoted  by 
Georgiana  Hill  in  her  Women  in  English  Life,  is  as  follows: 
“  One  or  two  ladies,  if  elected  members,  could  scarcely  be 
expected  to  take  part  in  the  government  or  in  the  work  of 
the  society;  and  as  the  practice  even  of  giving  votes  by 
proxy  has  long  since  been  abolished,  the  effect  of  their 
election  as  Royal  Academicians  would  be,  virtually,  to  re¬ 
duce  the  number  of  those  who  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
institution  and  the  schools  in  proportion  as  ladies  were 
admitted  to  that  rank:  and  as  long  as  the  number  of 
Associates  is  limited,  a  difficulty  would  arise  in  the  fact 
that  the  higher  rank  has  to  be  recruited  from  that  body.” 
Miss  Hill  regards  this  as  a  grievance,  because  it  virtually 
makes  the  matter  of  sex  a  disqualification,  and  quotes 
with  endorsement  Miss  Ellen  Clayton,  as  follows:  “The 
Academy  has  studiously  ignored  the  existence  of  women 
artists,  leaving  them  to  work  in  the  cold  shade  of  utter 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  363 


neglect.  Not  even  once  has  a  helping  hand  been  extended, 
not  once  has  the  most  trifling  reward  been  given  for 
highest  merit  and  industry.  Accidents  made  two  women 
Academicians — the  accident  of  circumstances  and  the  acci¬ 
dent  of  birth.  Accident  opened  the  door  to  girl  students — 
accident,  aided  by  courage  and  talent.  In  other  countries, 
they  have  the  prize  fairly  earned  quietly  placed  in  their 
hands,  and  can  receive  it  with  dignity.  In  free,  unpreju¬ 
diced,  chivalric  England,  where  the  race  is  given  to  the 
swift,  the  battle  to  the  strong,  without  fear  or  favour,  it  is 
only  by  slow,  laborious  degrees  that  women  are  winning 
the  right  to  enter  the  list  at  all,  and  are  then  received  with 
half-contemptuous  indulgence.” 

Whether  or  not  women  artists  have  a  real  grievance 
against  the  Royal  Academy,  certain  it  is  that  the  last 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  notable  for  the 
progress  of  women  in  art.  It  was  in  the  galleries  of 
the  Society  of  Lady  Artists,  which  came  into  existence  in 
1859,  that  Lady  Butler  first  exhibited  and  pictures  by 
Rosa  Bonheur  were  displayed.  With  the  multiplicity  of  art 
schools  and  every  facility  for  obtaining  instructions  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions,  women  have  been  brought 
into  prominence  as  artists.  Landscape,  portrait  painting, 
oil,  water-colors,  pastel — the  whole  range  of  subjects  and 
styles  of  painting  includes  pictures  of  merit  by  women. 

In  many  of  the  lesser  branches  of  art,  hundreds  of  women 
have  found  congenial  vocations.  They  have  shown  excel¬ 
lent  taste  and  aptitude  in  china  painting  and  other  forms 
of  decorative  work — in  book  illustration,  as  designers  of 
carpet  and  wall-paper  patterns,  as  preparers  of  advertise¬ 
ments,  designers  of  calendars,  and  a  host  of  other  minor 
art  industries. 

Women  as  musical  composers  had  appeared  in  the  last 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Mrs.  Beardman,  who  made 


364 


WOMAN 


her  debut  as  a  singer  at  the  Gloucester  festival  in  1790, 
was  equally  gifted  as  composer,  singer,  and  pianist.  Ann 
Mounsey  displayed  early  talent,  and  her  precocity  brought 
her  into  notice  when  she  was  but  nine  years  of  age.  In 
her  maturity,  her  compositions  gave  her  high  rank  among 
female  composers,  and  in  1855  her  oratorio  The  Nativity 
was  produced  in  London.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Phil¬ 
harmonic  Society  and  also  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Musi¬ 
cians.  Another  gifted  woman,  whose  talents  brought  her 
early  into  notice  and  who  was  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Music,  was  Kate  Fanny  Loder.  She  had  been 
instructed  in  piano-forte  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Anderson,  teacher 
to  Queen  Victoria  when  she  was  princess  and  afterward  to 
the  children  of  her  majesty.  Miss  Loder  was  a  king’s 
scholar  at  the  Royal  Academy,  and  when  but  eighteen 
years  of  age  was  appointed  professor  of  harmony  at  her 
alma  mater.  Eliza  Flower — whose  sister,  Mrs.  Adams, 
wrote  the  words  of  the  hymn  Nearer ,  my  God,  to  Thee — 
was  another  of  the  gifted  composers  of  the  century,  and 
her  name  appears  as  the  author  of  many  hymn  tunes. 

To  give  the  names  of  all  the  women  composers  of  hymn 
tunes  would  be  to  give  a  history  of  hymnology  in  modern 
times,  for  there  is  no  sacred  song  collection  but  embraces 
the  compositions  of  many  women  gifted  in  music.  To 
give  the  names  of  those  who  have  figured  in  opera  would 
involve  a  history  which  includes  a  great  many  more  for¬ 
eign  artists  than  English;  but  without  seeking  to  do  more 
than  mention  a  few  of  those  whose  names  have  figured  in 
popular  favor  as  operatic  prima  donnas,  and  omitting  par¬ 
ticular  mention  of  their  individual  capabilities,  there  are 
some  names  which  suggest  themselves  to  the  patrons  of 
the  opera  as  worthy  of  first  mention  in  the  list  of  Eng¬ 
land’s  great  singers.  Catherine  Tofts,  Anastasia  Robin¬ 
son,  Lavinia  Fenton, — afterward  Duchess  of  Bolton, — 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  365 

achieved  celebrity  in  the  opera  during  the  first  thirty 
years  of  the  century.  Lavinia  Fenton  was  the  heroine  of 
The  Beggars’  Opera,  which  took  London  by  storm.  The 
names  of  Catherine  Flayes  and  Louisa  Pyne  are  still 
treasured  by  those  whose  recollections  go  back  to  the 
forties. 

The  general  ill  repute  under  which  the  stage  rested  in  the 
seventeenth  century  continued  to  hang  about  it  throughout 
the  eighteenth.  There  was  still  a  great  deal  of  license 
allowed  spectators,  and  it  was  not  unusual  for  them  to 
pass  on  the  stage  and  behind  the  scenes.  The  rude  and 
boisterous  conduct  of  the  patrons  of  the  theatre  made  it 
extremely  unpleasant  for  persons  of  refinement  to  attend 
it.  The  city  streets  had  not  yet  become  well  protected, 
and  the  degree  of  security  which  is  now  afforded  to  pedes¬ 
trians  was  lacking  in  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  out 
of  the  question  for  any  gentlewoman  to  attend  the  theatre 
unaccompanied  by  male  escort.  There  were  always  loi¬ 
terers  about  the  streets,  and  any  man  of  rank  whose  char¬ 
acter  was  bad  enough  to  permit  him  to  do  so  felt  at  liberty 
to  salute  a  woman  with  insults — which,  when  they  came 
from  such  a  source,  were  then  styled  as  gallantries;  and 
women  who  adopted  the  stage  as  a  profession,  being  looked 
upon  as  having  forfeited  their  claims  to  gentility,  were 
regarded  as  fair  game  by  the  rakes  of  the  day.  Notwith¬ 
standing  the  attempts  of  Queen  Anne  to  reform  the  man¬ 
ners  of  theatre-goers  by  the  passage  of  edicts  looking  to 
that  end,  the  evils  which  made  it  so  unpleasant  to  a 
respectable  person  to  attend  the  theatre  and  which  brought 
the  playhouse  under  odium  continued  to  be  flagrant. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  came  a  great  uplift  of  the 
status  of  the  stage  and  workers  upon  it,  and,  in  contrast  to 
the  opinions  which  prevailed  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
an  actress  suffered  no  disparagement  and  had  the  same 


366 


WOMAN 


opportunity  for  cherishing  her  reputation  as  any  others  of 
the  sex.  The  stage  no  longer  brought  its  followers  into 
disrepute,  for  it  rested  with  the  actress  herself  to  preserve 
or  to  tarnish  her  character.  She  was  no  longer,  by  virtue 
of  being  an  actress,  regarded  as  a  Bohemian,  and  it  was 
not  considered  a  regrettable  thing  for  a  girl  of  character  to 
enter  upon  a  histrionic  career.  It  was  her  course  and 
conduct  after  she  had  entered  the  profession,  and  the 
nature  of  the  plays  in  which  she  appeared  and  the  parts 
which  she  allowed  herself  to  present,  that  determined 
the  public  verdict  with  regard  to  her.  As  a  result  of  the 
changed  character  of  the  theatre, — although  it  was  by  no 
means  cleared  of  all  the  odium  that  had  so  long  attached  to 
it, — a  larger  number  of  men  and  women  attended  dramatic 
performances  than  ever  before. 

The  introduction  of  women  into  commercial  life  was 
followed  by  the  opening  up  of  civil  service  appointments 
and  a  change  of  sentiment  with  regard  to  women  engaging 
in  trade.  In  1870,  when  the  government  bought  the  inter¬ 
ests  of  the  telegraph  company,  the  officials  were  brought 
under  the  existing  civil  service  rules.  Some  of  them  hap¬ 
pened  to  be  women,  and  thus,  inadvertently,  women  were 
admitted  to  civil  service  appointments  under  the  govern¬ 
ment.  In  1871  the  postmaster-general  bore  striking  testi¬ 
mony  to  the  efficiency  of  the  women  employed  in  his 
department.  When  commenting  upon  the  transfer  of  the 
telegraphs  from  private  control  to  post  office  direction,  he 
said:  “There  had  been  no  reason  to  regret  the  experi¬ 
ment.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  afforded  much  ground 
for  believing  that,  where  large  numbers  of  persons  are 
employed  with  full  work  and  fair  supervision,  the  admix¬ 
ture  of  the  sexes  involves  no  risk,  but  is  highly  benefi¬ 
cial.’ ’  Then,  remarking  upon  the  better  tone  of  the  male 
staff  by  reason  of  their  association  with  women  as  fellow 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  36 7 

employes,  he  added:  “  Further,  it  is  a  matter  of  experience 
that  the  male  clerks  are  more  willing  to  help  the  female 
clerks  with  their  work  than  to  help  one  another;  and 
on  many  occasions  pressure  of  business  is  met  and  diffi¬ 
culties  are  overcome  through  this  willingness  and  cordial 
cooperation.  ” 

The  experience  of  employing  women  in  the  post  office 
was  duplicated  in  other  departments  of  the  public  service, 
until  it  has  become  a  recognized  fact  that  women  can  be  em¬ 
ployed  in  connection  with  men  without  any  of  the  results 
which  it  was  apprehended  would  follow  the  departure.  In 
the  country  districts,  postmistresses  and  female  carriers 
are  not  a  novelty.  It  was  the  post  office  which  first 
opened  up  to  women  employment  under  the  government, 
and  its  various  departments  now  utilize  them  extensively. 
Although  other  of  the  public  services  have  received  women 
as  clerks,  their  position  is  still  in  a  measure  tentative,  but 
it  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  employment  of  them  by  the 
government  is  any  longer  an  experiment.  In  addition  to 
the  large  numbers  of  young  women  who  have  found  em¬ 
ployment  in  the  government  service,  there  is  no  railroad 
company,  insurance  company,  or  any  other  large  semi¬ 
public  or  private  business  firm  or  company,  which  has  not 
found  women  to  be  of  peculiar  serviceability.  The  great 
number  of  women  who,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century,  fitted  themselves  for  business  careers  in¬ 
dicates  not  only  a  change  of  ideal,  with  a  realization  of  their 
self-sufficiency,  but  the  increased  adaptability  of  women 
to  the  peculiar  conditions  of  modern  society. 

It  is  no  longer  a  curious  phenomenon  to  see  the  name 
of  a  woman  upon  a  business  letterhead,  or  on  the  sign 
over  some  large  commercial  establishment,  for  frequently, 
when  their  husbands  die,  women  themselves  now  take  in 
hand  the  business  interests  of  the  deceased  and  conduct 


368 


WOMAN 


them  with  marked  success,  and  with  no  question  from 
their  business  competitors  as  to  the  propriety  of  their  so 
doing.  Nor  do  such  women  forfeit  the  esteem  of  society. 
Society  as  such  is  no  longer  concerned  chiefly  with  matters 
of  pedigree,  but  more  largely  with  the  question  of  pros¬ 
perity.  While  it  would  be  asserting  too  much  to  say  that 
the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  the  iconoclastic  shatter¬ 
ing  of  the  old  aristocratic  ideals,  nevertheless,  while  the 
woman  of  blood  maintains  her  rightful  place  in  the  select 
circles  of  society,  the  door  stands  ajar  for  women  who 
have  no  other  claim  for  recognition  than  that  they  have 
amassed  fortunes,  or  inherited  them,  or  are  the  wives  of 
wealthy  men.  However,  they  must  not  have  clinging  to 
them  the  odor  of  their  humble  beginnings,  if  they  rose 
from  lowly  walks  of  life.  The  real  test  applied  to  them  is 
not  the  test  of  breeding,  which  relates  to  the  past,  but  of 
gentility,  which  is  the  measure  of  the  present  life. 

Besides  the  women  who  managed  large  business  inter¬ 
ests  in  their  own  names,  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed 
the  advent  of  the  business  woman  in  numerous  lines  of 
small  trade.  To  name  the  various  kinds  of  business  in 
which  women  are  found  making  for  themselves  a  sus¬ 
tenance  would  be  to  give  a  list  of  the  many  lines  of  retail 
trade;  but  the  shopwoman  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  is  quite  a  different  person  from  the  trades¬ 
woman  of  the  latter  half.  Instead  of  a  small,  obscure 
shop,  conducted  in  a  hesitating,  apologetic  manner,  to-day 
women  are  as  aggressive  advertisers,  make  as  fine  dis¬ 
plays  in  their  shops,  and  sustain  the  same  business  rela¬ 
tions  with  the  wholesale  dealers,  as  do  the  retail  dealers 
of  the  other  sex.  Beyond  any  peradventure,  women  have 
become  a  part  of  the  business  organism  of  England,  and 
are  competing  upon  terms  of  equality  with  men  for  the 
patronage  of  the  public;  and  they  have  before  them  just 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  369 

as  hopeful  prospects  of  amassing  a  competence  for  an  easy 
and  independent  old  age. 

Great  as  is  the  army  of  women  who  enrolled  themselves 
in  the  ranks  of  commerce  and  clerkship  during  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century,  they  are  in  a  minority  as  compared  with 
the  greater  host  of  industry, — the  women  who  are  found 
in  the  factories,  working  upon  the  raw  materials  of  human 
comforts  and  luxuries,  toiling  unremittingly  and  often  under 
hard  conditions  for  a  mere  pittance  as  compared  with  the 
value  of  their  products.  In  1895  there  were  one  hundred 
thousand  women  in  England  holding  membership  in  the 
various  trade  unions,  and,  besides  these,  a  far  larger  num¬ 
ber  who  were  without  such  enrolment,  such  as  fifty-two 
thousand  shirtmakers  and  seamstresses  and  four  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  dressmakers  and  milliners;  and  these  were 
but  a  mere  fraction  of  the  immense  host  of  women  who, 
outside  of  the  home,  found  themselves  earning  their  own 
bread  by  their  personal  labor.  With  the  growth  of  manu¬ 
factures,  women  were  drawn  from  the  rural  districts.  It 
became  an  uncommon  thing,  where  formerly  it  was  the 
usual  practice,  for  women  to  perform  the  work  of  field 
laborers,  or  to  depend  chiefly  for  support  upon  butter  and 
cheese  making,  or  service  at  the  inns  or  in  the  shops  of 
the  neighboring  towns.  It  is  now  only  the  women  of  the 
lowest  rank  who  devote  themselves  for  a  livelihood  to 
berry  picking,  hop  picking,  garden  weeding,  and  like 
menial  outdoor  services. 

The  competition  of  women  with  men  in  manufactures 
was  greeted  at  first  with  the  sullen  resentment  and  open 
opposition  with  which  machinery  was  viewed  when  first  in¬ 
troduced;  but  as  women  have  been  drawn  into  manufac¬ 
tures,  men  have  absorbed  many  of  the  outdoor  duties  which 
formerly  fell  to  woman’s  lot  in  the  country  districts.  The 
“  bakeresses,”  “  brewsters,”  and  the  “  regrateresses  ” — 


370 


WOMAN 


retailers  of  bread — are  now  known  simply  in  the  history 
of  industry;  their  names  have  become  archaic  and  their 
offices  obsolete.  As  machinery  took  the  place  of  the 
individual  intelligence  of  the  handworker  of  other  days, 
leaving  only  a  monotonous  series  of  mechanical  manipu¬ 
lations  for  the  men,  aside  from  the  superior  skill  called 
into  play  by  the  complexity  of  the  machinery,  which  de¬ 
manded  expert  and  intelligent  direction,  women  found  rele¬ 
gated  to  them  the  simplest  parts  of  factory  work  and  those 
which  did  not  require  any  large  degree  of  mentality.  As 
a  result,  the  women  of  the  factories  have  not  developed 
coordinately  in  intelligence  with  their  sisters  in  other  lines 
of  active  work.  This  has  unfortunately  led  them  to  be 
looked  down  upon  as  inferior  to  girls  who  work  in  stores 
or  in  offices.  As  the  factory  laws  came  to  be  framed  with 
regard  to  greater  investigation  and  regulation  of  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  women’s  work  in  factories,  many  of  the  abuses 
were  to  a  degree  corrected.  It  is  not  now  commonly  the 
case  that  a  self-respecting  operative  is  without  redress 
if  subjected  to  the  coarse  insults  of  brutalized  foremen, 
nor  are  women  now  permitted  to  work  as  formerly  under 
conditions  so  harmful  to  their  peculiar  constitutions.  Better 
sanitation,  fewer  hours  of  employment,  and  greater  regard 
for  their  comfort,  have  done  much  to  brighten  what  was  in 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  dreariest  life 
to  which  any  woman  could  be  chained. 

Along  with  the  improvements  in  the  condition  of 
women’s  labor  have  gone  improvements  in  the  housing 
of  factory  people.  The  industrial  evils  that  brought  out 
such  chivalrous  champions  of  the  poor  as  the  younger 
Lord  Shaftesbury  and  his  associates  no  longer  generally 
prevail  in  factory  life.  There  yet  remains  much  to  be 
done  for  the  congregated  women  and  girls  of  the  factories. 
It  was  inevitable  that  by  the  bringing  of  them  together  in 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  371 


great  numbers,  many  from  homes  of  abject  poverty  where 
they  had  none  of  the  benefits  of  careful  training,  and 
by  the  herding  of  them  together  in  factories  where  the 
nature  of  their  work  did  not  furnish  employment  for  their 
minds,  the  moral  tone  of  the  young  women  of  daily  toil 
should  have  been  lower  than  that  of  their  sister  workers 
in  other  lines.  But  the  dictum  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  has 
been  sinking  into  the  social  consciousness,  and  has  borne 
splendid  fruit  in  the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  fac¬ 
tory  work  for  women.  “In  the  male/’  says  he,  “the 
moral  effects  of  the  system  are  very  bad;  but  in  the  female 
they  are  infinitely  worse,  not  alone  upon  themselves,  but 
upon  their  families,  upon  society,  and,  I  may  add,  upon 
the  country  itself.  It  is  bad  enough  if  you  corrupt  the 
man;  but  if  you  corrupt  the  woman,  you  poison  the  waters 
of  life  at  the  very  fountain.”  In  the  first  half  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century,  the  actual  number  of  women  employed  in 
factories  appears  to  have  been  larger  than  that  of  men. 

The  existence  of  the  factory,  drawing  out  from  the 
homes  so  many  women  and  making  their  home  life  only  a 
secondary  consideration  and  an  additional  burden,  presents 
one  of  the  gravest  problems  of  modern  times — a  problem 
that  must  be  approached  harmoniously  by  the  philanthro¬ 
pists  and  the  legislators  if  it  is  to  be  satisfactorily  solved. 
Habit  begets  contentment,  so  that  it  is  not  the  employes 
of  the  factory  who  feel  most  keenly  the  unfortunate  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  their  existence.  It  is  the  social  reformer, 
whose  one  aim  is  not  the  uplifting  of  the  individual  as  such, 
but  the  betterment  of  the  individual  as  the  unit  of  the 
social  fabric,  who  is  most  concerned  for  the  betterment  of 
the  town  life  of  England.  As  to  the  women  themselves, 
when  they  are  compensated  by  extra  wage  they  have 
no  complaint  to  make  about  the  long  hours;  indeed,  they 
sometimes  even  prefer  the  factory  and  the  excitement 


372 


WOMAN 


of  their  surroundings  to  the  dreary  and  forbidding  pros¬ 
pect  of  their  desolate  tenements.  One  unnatural  result 
of  women’s  work  in  factories  is  the  reversal  of  the  posi¬ 
tions  respectively  of  husband  and  wife  in  the  home.  It  is 
not  an  extraordinary  occurrence  for  women  to  go  out  to 
the  factories  and  earn  the  bread  of  the  family,  while  the 
men  remain  at  home  to  mind  the  babies  and  care  for  the 
house.  This  begetting  of  shiftlessness  in  men,  who  are 
buoyed  up  to  the  point  of  self-supporting  labor  only  by 
the  dependence  of  their  families  upon  them,  is  an  inci¬ 
dental  but  a  significant  result  of  factory  life  upon  women. 
It  is  seriously  to  be  doubted  that,  in  the  aggregate  earn¬ 
ings  of  the  family,  there  is  any  real  compensation  for  the 
binding  of  wives  and  children  to  the  wheel  of  toil.  It  has 
been  observed  by  careful  students  of  industrial  conditions 
that,  for  one  reason  or  another,  the  maximum  wage  of  a 
family  and  the  degree  of  comfort  in  their  living  are  not, 
ordinarily,  greater  than  that  of  the  family  whose  sole  wage 
earner  is  the  husband. 

There  is  not  a  concurrence  of  views  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  special  legislation  with  regard  to  the  industrial  place  of 
women.  Some  see  in  the  various  acts  passed  to  regulate 
the  circumstances  of  their  employment  a  distinct  gain, 
while  others  view  all  such  enactments  as  a  regrettable 
interference  of  the  state  in  a  matter  where  it  is  not  capa¬ 
ble  of  taking  cognizance  of  all  the  circumstances  involved 
and  of  displaying  the  broadest  wisdom  in  dealing  with  the 
subject.  Then,  too,  it  is  objected  on  the  part  of  some 
that  sex  legislation  is  unwise  of  itself.  The  women  them¬ 
selves  have  not  always  looked  with  favor  upon  the  pas¬ 
sage  of  acts  for  the  regulation  of  their  labor,  and  often 
complain  of  such  as  an  infringement  of  their  personal 
privileges  as  adults.  They  complain  that  the  competition 
of  labor  is  already  severe,  and  that  by  imposing  upon 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  373 


them  the  limitations  of  certain  acts  the  difficulty  of  making 
a  subsistence  is  increased.  They  complain  against  the 
association  of  female  with  child  labor,  and  assert  that 
the  conditions  are  dissimilar  and  the  abuses  to  be  corrected 
cannot  be  classed  under  the  same  legislative  conditions. 
Industrial  legislation  was  first  directed  to  the  correction  of 
offences  against  women  on  account  of  their  sex,  but  the 
later  enactments,  and  those  most  complained  of,  were  re¬ 
sented  because  of  their  making  the  securing  of  a  livelihood 
more  precarious.  The  Times  in  1895  pointed  out  that 
there  were  eight  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  women 
affected  by  the  Factories  and  Workshops  Bill,  introduced 
into  Parliament  in  that  year.  The  lack  of  flexibility  of  the 
measure,  failing  to  take  account  of  the  different  natures 
and  conditions  of  the  various  employments  affected,  made 
it  obviously  unjust  to  the  women  employed  in  certain 
trades.  Some  industries  have  their  seasons  of  activity 
and  of  dulness,  while  others  fluctuate  without  regard  to 
periods;  and  to  class  all  such  under  legislation  regulating 
the  hours  of  labor  at  the  same  number  for  them  all  could 
but  work  injury  to  the  women  employed  in  such  trades 
and  disproportionate  advantage  to  other  women  employed 
in  industries  pursued  evenly  throughout  the  year. 

The  crux  of  such  contentions  lies  in  the  paternal  attitude 
of  the  state  to  the  female  sex.  The  expediency  of  depriv¬ 
ing  women  of  the  same  amount  of  liberty  to  regulate  their 
own  affairs  as  is  accorded  to  men  is  a  matter  of  doubt. 
Women  feel  that  they  can  decide  better  for  their  own 
needs  than  can  the  legislators  who  have  as  their  guide 
only  industrial  statistics,  the  petitions  of  well-meaning 
social  reformers,  and  the  views  of  those  who  claim  expert 
knowledge  from  the  outside.  Just  what  will  be  the  out¬ 
come  of  the  attempt  to  resolve  woman  into  a  normal  rela¬ 
tionship  to  modern  industry  without  violation  of  the  rights 


374 


WOMAN 


of  self-direction  and  protection,  which  she  claims  as  her 
prerogative,  and  at  the  same  time  to  preserve  society  from 
the  social  blight  of  the  reduction  of  considerable  numbers 
of  workingwomen  to  prostitution  and  abandoned  living, 
remains  to  be  determined  by  the  wisdom  and  experience 
of  the  twentieth  century. 

One  of  the  most  curious  of  the  industrial  problems  at 
the  front  in  the  nineteenth  century  was  the  servant  ques¬ 
tion.  While  the  wheels  of  work  were  set  to  moving  with 
more  or  less  smoothness  in  all  other  ways,  this  important 
wheel  in  the  domestic  machinery  has  never  run  without 
friction,  jarring  to  the  nerves  of  housewives.  Such  women 
find  a  common  bond  of  sympathy  in  the  incompetence  and 
dereliction  of  their  domestics;  domestics  find  a  common  sub¬ 
ject  of  interest  in  their  grievances  against  their  mistresses. 
The  whole  matter  is  almost  ludicrous,  because  it  is  one 
simply  of  adjustment.  After  the  sex  has  asserted  for 
itself  a  position  in  the  realm  of  industry  not  inconsistent 
with  the  self-respect  which  it  has  sought  to  maintain,  the 
women  who  work  in  the  kitchens  and  the  chambers  of 
other  women  sullenly  resent  the  imputation  of  their  menial 
status  in  so  doing.  Just  why  the  modern  servants  should 
be  looked  upon  as  inferior  to  other  women  workers  is  a 
difficult  question,  for  their  close  relation  to  their  mistresses 
would  appear  to  give  them  an  individuality  which  the 
“  hands  ”  in  a  factory  do  not  possess.  The  line  of  demar¬ 
cation  between  the  domestic  employers  and  employes  is 
not  always  a  clearly  pronounced  one,  for  it  not  uncom¬ 
monly  occurs  that  those  who  themselves  employ  a  maid 
send  out  their  own  daughters  to  similar  service.  The  low 
regard  in  which  servants  are  held,  and  the  application  to 
them  of  this  very  term,  which  carries  with  it  an  implica¬ 
tion  of  ignominy,  is  responsible  for  the  poor  grade  of  effi¬ 
ciency,  intelligence,  and  character  found  among  domestics 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  375 

as  a  class.  There  is  no  reason,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
why  a  young  girl  with  intelligence  and  fair  education 
should  not  self-respectingly  take  domestic  service,  and 
rank  above  factory  hands  and  many  of  her  sister  workers 
in  inferior  clerical  positions. 

In  earlier  times  domestic  work  fell  largely  to  men.  The 
kitchen  work  which  now  is  performed  by  scullery  maids 
was  done  by  boys  and  youths;  and  before  the  office  of 
housemaid  had  been  established,  that  of  chamberlain  sig¬ 
nified  the  service  of  men  for  the  work  which  maids  are 
now  employed  to  do.  The  very  titles  of  those  who  are 
connected  with  the  person  of  majesty  signify  the  lowly 
household  functions  which  were  ordinarily  performed  by 
those  to  whom  now  fall  the  honors,  but  none  of  the  duties, 
of  those  offices.  In  ecclesiastical  households  there  were 
no  women  employed  at  all  in  former  times,  excepting 
“  brewsters.”  The  personal  relationship  which  used  to 
endear  the  tie  between  servant  and  mistress  no  more  ex¬ 
ists  than  it  does  between  other  working  people  and  their 
employers.  Instead  of  the  idea  of  personal  attachment, 
the  monetary  consideration  is  the  only  one  that  enters 
into  the  relationship.  The  maid  is  but  a  part  of  the 
machinery  of  the  household,  and  must  deport  herself  in  a 
deferential  and  often  an  abject  manner,  assuming  a  mask 
of  propriety  which  is  thrown  off  as  soon  as  she  is  among 
her  companions,  when  the  pent-up  animosity  and  resent¬ 
ment  find  expression.  How  different  the  modern  condition 
from  that  which  obtained  in  other  times,  when  a  lady  con¬ 
sidered  no  one  fitting  to  attend  upon  her  excepting  those 
who  were  of  gentle  blood  and  between  whom  and  her¬ 
self  were  ties  of  endearment  and  a  measure  of  equality! 
Gentle  maidens  performed  many  household  duties  which 
to-day  are  disdained  by  young  ladies  of  lesser  position. 
The  real  “  servants”  did  only  the  coarse  and  rough  work 


376 


WOMAN 


of  the  household.  They  had  no  particular  place  to  sleep, 
and,  even  down  to  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  it  was  not 
thought  important  to  provide  regular  beds  for  “menials” 
in  the  great  houses — “As  for  servants,  if  they  had  any 
shete  above  them  it  was  well,  for  seldom  had  they  any 
under  their  bodies  to  keep  them  from  the  pricking  strawes 
that  ranne  off  thorow  the  canvas  and  raxed  their  hardened 
hides.”  The  servants  who  were  thus  treated  were,  of 
course,  the  antecedents  of  the  present-day  servants.  It  is 
from  the  traditional  attitude  toward  them  that  much  of  the 
present-day  spirit  of  superiority  toward  domestics  is  de¬ 
rived.  During  the  eighteenth  century  the  condition  of 
domestics  improved,  and,  during  the  last  quarter,  the 
description  of  them,  their  tastes  and  their  manners,  is 
such  as  would  be  quite  applicable  to-day.  Already  the 
scarcity  of  good  servants  had  come  to  be  a  matter  of 
domestic  concern.  The  lament  of  the  lady  of  to-day,  that 
her  maid  dresses  as  well  as  she  herself,  is  not  a  new  one, 
for  it  is  met  as  far  back  as  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
in  the  eighteenth  century  Defoe  remarks  upon  the  same 
fact.  He  says,  writing  in  1724:  “It  would  be  a  satire 
upon  the  ladies  such  as  perhaps  they  would  not  bear  the 
reading  of,  should  we  go  about  to  tell  how  hard  it  is 
sometimes  to  know  the  chamber-maid  from  her  mistress; 
or  my  lady’s  chief  woman  from  one  of  my  lady’s  daugh¬ 
ters.”  He  adds  that:  “From  this  gaiety  of  dress  must 
necessarily  follow  encrease  of  wages,  for  where  there  is 
such  an  expence  in  habit  there  must  be  a  proportion’d 
supply  of  money,  or  it  will  not  do.”  The  same  subject 
furnished  concern  for  people  generally,  and  a  correspond¬ 
ent  to  the  Times  wrote,  in  1794:  “  I  think  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  good  master  and  mistress  to  stop  as  much  as  pos¬ 
sible  the  present  ridiculous  and  extravagant  mode  of  dress 
in  their  domestics.  .  .  .  Formerly  a  plaited  cap  and 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  377 


a  white  handkerchief  served  a  young  woman  three  or  four 
Sundays.  Now  a  mistress  is  required  to  give  up,  by 
agreement,  the  latter  end  of  the  week  for  her  maids  to 
prepare  their  caps,  tuckers,  gowns,  etc.,  for  Sunday,  and 
I  am  told  there  are  houses  open  on  purpose  where  those 
servants  who  do  not  choose  their  mistresses  shall  see 
them,  carry  their  dresses  in  a  bundle  and  put  them  on, 
meet  again  in  the  evening  for  the  purpose  of  disrobing, 
and  where  I  doubt  not  many  a  poor,  deluded  creature  had 
been  disrobed  of  her  virtue.  They  certainly  call  aloud  for 
some  restraint,  both  as  to  their  dress  as  well  as  insolent 
manner.  ” 

The  great  majority  of  domestic  servants  come  from  the 
rural  districts,  and  upon  entering  into  town  life  have  no 
one  to  exercise  any  personal  concern  in  their  welfare,  and, 
where  they  do  not  fall  into  worse  courses,  they  acquire  an 
extravagant  and  reckless  habit  of  life  that  uses  up  their 
earnings  simply  in  the  furthering  of  their  vanity  or 
pleasure.  The  servant  question,  as  that  of  women’s  posi¬ 
tion  in  the  factory  system  of  the  country,  presents  prob¬ 
lems  which  have  proved  as  yet  stubborn  to  all  attempts 
at  their  solution. 

One  of  the  most  curious  facts  of  the  last  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century  was  the  evolution  of  the  “new 
woman.”  Women,  representing  all  manner  of  social  pleas, 
running  the  gamut  of  the  extremes,  sought  a  hearing  upon 
the  platform,  in  the  pulpit,  through  the  press,  and  in  litera¬ 
ture.  It  looked  as  if  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  were  on  the 
verge  of  a  great  revolution  in  which  the  men  would,  either 
passively  or  in  strenuous  opposition,  be  ignominiously  rele¬ 
gated  to  the  rear  in  the  lines  of  new  progress.  The  new 
movement  grew  out  of  a  sense  of  social  inequality  on  the 
part  of  some  women,  and  this  grievance  was  exploited 
in  all  ways  and  illustrated  from  all  viewpoints.  Some  of 


378 


WOMAN 


these  strenuous  advocates  for  the  “rights”  of  the  sex 
gave  themselves  over  to  the  question  of  dress  reform,  and 
their  diverse  views  represented  the  whole  range  of  the 
question,  from  the  sensible  and  sane  declaration  for  the 
abolishment  of  the  tyranny  of  style  to  the  adoption  of 
male  attire.  Others  discussed  the  injustice  to  women 
from  the  physiological  viewpoint,  and  affirmed  that  mother¬ 
hood  was  not  an  honorable  office,  but  a  type  of  feudalism 
to  men  and  a  subservience  to  their  wills  that  was  highly 
dishonoring  to  womankind.  It  looked  as  though  the 
household  gods  were  to  be  tumbled  out  of  the  home  with¬ 
out  much  ado;  but  while  some  of  the  advocates  of  reform 
went  to  absurd  lengths  and  presented  extreme  views  and 
sought  by  all  the  ingenuity  of  sophistry  to  present  the 
status  of  woman  as  a  most  deplorable  one,  there  were 
others,  more  moderate  in  their  views  and  expressions,  who 
felt  that  there  might  be  a  clear  gain  for  women  in  the 
affirming  of  her  rights  in  the  matter  of  conventions  which 
held  over  from  the  eighteenth  century.  Whether  in  de¬ 
portment  or  in  dress,  in  intellectual  pursuits  or  in  the 
province  of  amusement,  women  were  to  exercise  their 
judgment  and  common  sense  and  live  in  the  light  of 
their  own  reason  and  not  with  reference  to  the  mandates 
of  men. 

When  the  “  new  woman  ”  craze  passed  away,  it  left,  as 
its  effect,  young  women  more  self-reliant,  more  independ¬ 
ent,  a  little  more  pert  and  self-assured,  with  less  reverence 
and  greater  capability,  than  before.  On  the  whole,  the 
English  girl  of  to-day  has  wrought  out  of  the  complex  con¬ 
ditions  of  modern  society  the  naturalness  which  was 
asserting  itself  throughout  the  eighteenth  century,  but 
was  hampered  by  new  conventions,  rigid  customs,  and 
stately  formalisms.  It  is  true  that  the  English  girl  of 
to-day  would  be  to  her  grandmother  a  revelation,  and 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  379 

perhaps  not  an  agreeable  one;  but  the  standards  by  which 
estimates  are  made  are  safest  and  most  satisfactory  when 
contemporary.  It  would  be  venturesome  to  forecast  the 
view  of  the  fin  de  siecle  girl  which  may  be  taken  at  the 
close  of  the  new  century  by  those  who  shall  cast  back 
over  the  years  a  historical  glance.  Certain  it  is  that,  on 
the  whole,  she  comes  approximately  up  to  the  best  stand¬ 
ards  of  to-day,  although  a  certain  air  of  flippancy  and  the 
flavor  of  the  independence  of  judgment,  not  always  bal¬ 
anced  by  reason,  suggest  the  possibility  of  an  intellectual 
and  spiritual  trend  not  consistent  with  her  most  fortunate 
lines  of  development. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  twentieth  century  takes  woman 
as  a  practical  matter  of  fact,  and  proposes  to  bestow  upon 
her  no  fulsome  eulogies,  chivalrous  dalliance,  to  place  her 
in  no  position  of  inferiority,  or  to  exalt  her  to  the  tran¬ 
scendent  estate  of  the  celestial  beings.  She  has  demanded 
recognition  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life;  she  has  claimed 
the  right  to  determine  her  own  destiny;  she  has  achieved 
the  freedom  of  the  outer  world.  Lofty  as  are  the  summits 
of  human  ambition,  she  has  climbed  up  to  the  very  highest 
peaks  and  written  her  name  in  letters  of  immortality  on 
the  scroll  of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  in  the  arts,  in 
literature,  in  philanthropy.  Does  she  ever  pause  to  take 
a  backward  look  over  the  steps  by  which  she  has  come  to 
her  present  eminence?  Does  she  ever  consider  the  “pit 
from  which  she  was  digged”?  It  is  a  far  cry  from  the 
twentieth  century  to  the  early  dawn  of  history,  and  none 
but  the  Eye  which  runs  to  and  fro  throughout  the  whole 
earth  can  trace  the  entire  course  of  woman’s  ascendency 
from  degradation  to  exaltation.  But  it  is  always  well  to 
pause  and  to  ask  of  the  past  years  what  report  they 
have  borne  to  Heaven;  and  the  history  of  woman,  studied 
in  the  light  of  fact  and  with  such  proper  reflections  as 


380 


WOMAN 


historical  circumstance  suggests,  must  not  only  be  a 
profitable  one  for  the  correction  of  any  ill-balanced  ten¬ 
dencies  which  may  appear  to  close  observation  of  woman 
in  her  present  position  and  spirit,  but  it  must  as  well  be 
an  important  section  of,  and,  in  a  sense,  interpretation  of, 
the  social  development  of  England. 


(Chapter  XV 

®f)r  <52Eomcn  of  ^cotlanD  anti  Ireland 


XV 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND 

THE  women  of  Scotland  are  remarkable  for  the  strength 
of  their  domestic  sentiments  and  for  their  loyalty  to  the 
land  of  the  heather.  The  stream  of  national  life,  by  its 
merging  and  mingling  with  that  of  England,  has  never  lost 
the  individuality  which  has  been  the  pride  of  the  Scotch 
people  in  all  their  periods.  Like  two  rivers  meeting  in 
confluence, — the  one  slow  and  clear,  but  steady  and  strong 
in  its  flow,  the  other,  dashing  and  foaming  its  turbulent 
flood  over  the  breakers  in  its  rough  channel, — refusing  for 
a  long  time  to  do  other  than  divide  their  common  course 
until  after  long  periods  of  associated  flow  they  finally 
merge,  still  showing  in  their  different  shadings  the  mark 
of  their  diverse  origin,  so  was  it  with  England  and  Scot¬ 
land.  The  union  is  complete,  but  national  characteristics 
remain. 

Not  so,  however,  with  unhappy  Ireland.  Fundamental 
differences  in  life,  in  temperament,  in  religion,  in  ideals, 
have  served  to  perpetuate  the  alienation  of  a  people  whose 
connection  with  England  might  seem  to  depend  on  the 
power  of  but  one  principle — that  of  force.  Not  strange 
is  it  that  among  a  people  which  considers  itself  deprived 
of  a  future  the  influence  of  the  past  should  be  predomi¬ 
nant,  and  that  in  the  recital  of  the  mighty  deeds  of  the 
Irish  chieftains  of  yore  should  be  found  the  chief  delight 

383 


384 


WOMAN 


of  those  who  mingle  their  tears  at  the  shrine  of  such 
a  representative  of  their  national  defeat  as  the  patriot 
O’Connell. 

With  the  curious  contradiction  of  nature  which  infusion 
of  Celtic  blood  effects,  no  livelier  or  more  light-hearted  race 
of  women  exists  upon  the  earth  than  that  of  Erin,  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  none  which  can  be  plunged  so  deeply  into 
melancholy  and  feel  so  profoundly  the  pangs  of  sorrow. 
Not  to  original  contributions  of  race  characteristics,  how¬ 
ever,  is  this  contradictory  temperament  solely  to  be 
attributed,  but  to  the  long  years  of  denationalization  which 
have  made  Ireland  the  wailing  place  of  women  whose 
traditions  are  glorious  with  the  deeds  of  mighty  queens 
and  amazons  like  Macha,  Meave,  Dearbhguill  and  Eva; 
the  dawn  of  whose  cycles  of  religious  glory  is  marked 
by  the  life  and  deeds  of  a  Bridget. 

To  write  a  history  of  the  women  of  Great  Britain  and 
not  speak  of  the  differences  which  the  names  Scot  and  Irish 
connote  would  be  as  grave  an  error  as  to  describe  the 
flora  of  the  islands  and  omit  mention  of  the  shamrock  and 
the  thistle.  Not  that  the  flora  of  the  island  group  is 
essentially  distinctive  any  more  than  that  the  differences 
in  society,  in  manners  and  customs  of  the  separate  peoples, 
are  radical.  It  is  not  that  there  is  much  of  diverse  interest 
in  the  broad  aspects  of  the  life  of  the  women  that  the 
recital  of  the  history  of  the  women  of  Scotland  and  Ireland 
is  to  have  separate  treatment,  but  to  throw  in  strong  light 
upon  the  pages  of  history  the  figures  of  women  who  be¬ 
longed  not  to  Great  Britain,  as  such,  but  to  Scotland  or  to 
Ireland,  and  who,  if  they  date  after  the  cementing  of  the 
union  of  the  peoples,  still  perpetuate  that  which  is  distinct¬ 
ive  in  quality  of  life  and  of  character. 

To  figure  forth  the  famous  women  of  these  peoples  will 
serve  as  sufficient  commentary  upon  the  effect  of  difference 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  385 


of  life  and  of  customs.  All  else  has  entered  into  the  story  of 
the  women  of  Great  Britain  as  it  has  been  told,  for,  after 
all,  there  is  a  real  oneness  between  them. 

The  tribal  influence  in  both  Ireland  and  Scotland  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  the  predominant  force  of  patriotic  purpose 
long  after  the  welding  of  its  various  elements  had  elimi¬ 
nated  this  influence  in  English  life.  In  the  earlier  history 
of  both  the  Scotch  and  Irish  peoples,  we  have  to  do  with 
the  force  in  society  of  this  family  idea,  centred  in  great 
chieftains  and  kings,  but  none  the  less  a  fact  of  prevailing 
influence,  an  idea  incarnate  that  served  to  quell  the  strife 
of  warring  factions  in  the  face  of  a  common  enemy.  The 
patriotism  of  both  peoples  has  been  the  patriotism  of  the 
family  and  the  fireside.  The  love  of  the  tartan  among 
the  Scotch  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  Irish  clans  attest 
this  fact  to-day. 

Many  are  the  pages  of  British  history  rendered  glorious 
by  the  deeds  of  the  women  of  Scotland.  In  those  early 
days,  when  the  light  of  history  is  too  faint  to  show  clearly 
their  characters  or  their  deeds,  the  women  of  Caledonia 
went  forth  to  battle  with  men  at  the  sound  of  the  pibroch. 
Some  of  the  noblest  of  them  reigned  as  queens,'  were 
hailed  as  deliverers,  or  gave  their  blood  in  martyrdom  to 
warm  the  soil  of  their  country.  The  Scotch-Irish  tribes 
accorded  their  women  place  in  the  deliberative  bodies,  and 
listened  to  their  counsel.  The  magnificent  virility  which 
they  displayed  was  not  different  from  that  of  British  women 
generally.  The  noble  Boadicea  was  no  more  valorous 
than  the  Irish  Meave.  From  the  dim  shadow  land  of  the 
past  must  some  of  the  characters  of  this  recital  be  called 
up,  but  the  Middle  Ages  and  modern  periods  will  be  most 
largely  drawn  upon  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Celtic  woman, 
as  a  part  of  the  chronicle  of  a  country  where,  as  we  have 
fully  seen,  women  have  always  counted  as  factors. 


386 


WOMAN 


Macha  of  the  Red  Tresses  is  the  first  of  the  Irish 
queens  whose  figure  stands  out  with  sufficient  boldness 
to  fix  it  upon  the  pages  of  history.  Would  one  marvel  at 
her  beauty  or  her  prowess,  let  him  have  recourse  to  the 
praises  of  the  early  bards  and  the  laudations  of  the  chron¬ 
iclers.  We  can  well  believe  that,  to  her  countrymen,  she 
appeared  as  the  incarnation  of  some  divinity  as  she  rode 
at  the  head  of  her  body  of  stalwart  warriors;  her  auburn 
tresses  floating  loose  in  the  wind,  her  mantle  flung  care¬ 
lessly  over  her  shoulder,  her  neck  and  arms  and  ankles 
girdled  with  massive  gold  ornaments,  her  eyes  flashing 
determination  as  she  pointed  the  advance  to  the  foray 
with  her  lance  directed  toward  the  foe  drawn  up  in  battle 
line  to  receive  the  charge. 

A  quarrel  as  to  the  succession  to  the  throne  or  to  the 
headship  of  the  tribe,  which  was  precipitated  by  the  death 
of  her  father  without  posterity  excepting  this  intrepid 
daughter,  was  the  occasion  of  her  appearance  upon  the 
page  of  national  affairs,  or  rather  of  tribal  history.  She 
gained  the  victory  over  her  adversaries,  and  ruled  her 
people  for  seven  years.  The  romantic  annals  of  this 
valorous  lady  relate  how  she  pursued  the  sons  of  her  ad¬ 
versary  to  effect  their  destruction;  and  the  more  certainly 
to  accomplish  her  purpose,  she  disguised  herself  as  a  leper, 
by  rubbing  her  face  with  rye  dough.  Away  in  the  depths 
of  a  dense  forest  she  finds  them  cooking  the  wild  boar 
they  had  just  slain.  Having  successfully  used  her  dis¬ 
guise  to  achieve  her  end,  she  rid  herself  of  the  leprous- 
looking  splotches.  With  honeyed  words  and  the  judicious 
flashing  of  love-light  from  a  pair  of  wondrous  eyes,  the 
supposed  leper  charms  her  enemies.  One  brother  follows 
her  into  a  remote  part  of  the  forest,  where  by  guile  she 
effects  the  binding  of  him  hand  and  foot.  Returning  to 
the  camp,  she  successively  lures  the  remaining  brothers 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  387 


into  the  woods  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same 
result.  She  brought  them  “tied  together”  to  Emhain. 
There,  in  a  council  of  the  tribe,  womanly  sentiment  pre¬ 
vailed  over  sanguinary  counsels,  and,  instead  of  being 
condemned  to  death,  the  prisoners  were  given  over  to 
slavery  in  the  queen’s  following;  and  with  the  romantic 
ideas  common  to  her  sex,  she  had  them  build  her  a  fortress 
“which  shall  be  forever  henceforth  the  capital  city  of  this 
province.”  With  her  golden  brooch  she  measured  the 
bounds  of  the  future  castle,  and  it  received  the  name  “the 
Palace  of  Macha’s  Brooch.”  So  runs  the  legend,  and  so 
is  fixed  by  the  brooch  of  Macha  the  first  date  in  Irish  his¬ 
tory,  at  a  period,  however,  when  dates  have  little  signifi¬ 
cance,  for  time  meant  but  duration,  and  not  economy  or 
expenditure  of  force. 

The  romance  of  another  of  Ireland’s  early  queens  cen¬ 
tres  about  the  possession  of  a  bull  whose  marvellously 
good  points  had  awakened  the  queen’s  envy;  the  pastoral 
relates  the  contest  which  arose  therefrom.  This  queen 
was  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Connaught,  Ecohaidh  by 
name,  and  her  mother  was  the  handmaid  of  his  wife,  the 
Lady  Edain,  who  herself  was  a  leader  of  great  beauty 
and  courage.  The  contest  for  the  throne  resulted  in  the 
elevation  of  JWeave  to  the  royal  dignity.  Before  this, 
she  had  contracted  marriage  with  a  prince,  with  whom  she 
lived  unhappily.  She  returned  to  her  father’s  court, 
and,  after  her  coronation,  married  the  powerful  chief 
Ailill.  The  death  of  her  husband  and  that  of  her  father, 
which  occurred  at  about  the  same  time,  left  her  soli¬ 
tary.  The  queen’s  misfortune  in  marriage  did  not  deter 
her  from  seeking  a  further  union.  One  day,  the  court 
of  Ross-Ruadh,  King  of  Leinster,  was  thrown  into  a 
great  stir  by  the  arrival  of  the  heralds  of  Meave  dressed 
in  “yellow  silk  shirts  and  grass-green  mantles,”  who 


388 


WOMAN 


announced  that  the  famous  queen  was  on  a  royal  progress 
throughout  the  land  in  quest  of  a  husband  suited  to  one  of 
her  state  and  character.  She  was  feted  and  catered  to  in 
every  way,  and  finally  fixed  her  choice  upon  the  seven- 
teen-year-old  son  of  Ross-Ruadh,  whose  character  promised 
enough  meekness  to  insure  the  dominance  over  him  of  his 
much  older  spouse. 

The  event  which  the  chroniclers  make  the  prominent 
one  of  her  reign  had  its  origin  in  a  heated  dispute  be¬ 
tween  the  queen  and  her  spouse  as  to  their  respective 
possessions.  The  result  of  the  controversy  was  an  actual 
inventory  of  their  belongings.  “There  were  compared 
before  them  all  their  wooden  and  their  metal  vessels  of 
value;  and  they  were  found  to  be  equal.  There  were 
brought  to  them  their  finger-rings,  their  clasps,  their  brace¬ 
lets,  their  thumb-rings,  their  diadems,  and  their  gorgets 
of  gold;  and  they  were  found  to  be  equal.  There  were 
brought  to  them  their  garments  of  crimson  and  blue,  and 
black  and  green,  and  yellow  and  mottled,  and  white  and 
streaked;  and  they  were  found  to  be  equal.  There  were 
brought  before  them  their  great  flocks  of  sheep,  from 
greens  and  lawns  and  plains;  and  they  were  found  to  be 
equal.  There  were  brought  before  them  their  steeds  and 
their  studs,  from  pastures  and  from  fields;  and  they  were 
found  to  be  equal.  There  were  brought  before  them  their 
great  herds  of  swine,  from  forest  and  from  deep  glens  and 
from  solitudes;  their  herds  and  their  droves  of  cows  were 
brought  before  them,  from  the  forests  and  most  remote 
solitudes  of  the  province;  and,  on  counting  and  comparing 
them,  they  were  found  to  be  equal  in  number  and  excel¬ 
lence.  But  there  was  found  among  Ailill’s  herds  a  young 
bull,  which  had  been  calved  by  one  of  Meave’s  cows,  and 
which,  not  deeming  it  honourable  to  be  under  a  woman’s 
control,  went  over  and  attached  himself  to  Ailill’s  herds.” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  389 


Deeply  chagrined  that  she  had  not  in  all  her  herds  a 
bull  to  match  this  one,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  re¬ 
markable  animal,  she  asked  her  chief  courier  where  in  all 
the  five  provinces  of  Erin  its  counterpart  might  be  found. 
He  replied  that  not  only  could  he  direct  her  to  its  equal, 
but  to  its  superior.  The  possessor  of  this  animal  was 
Dare,  son  of  Fachtna  of  the  Cantred  of  Cualigne,  in  the 
province  of  Ulster.  Its  name  was  the  Brown  Bull  of 
Cualigne.  Straightway  was  the  courier,  MacRoth,  sent 
to  Dare  with  an  offer  of  fifty  heifers  for  the  animal,  and 
the  further  assurance  that,  if  he  so  desired,  he  and  his 
people  might  have  the  best  lands  of  what  are  now  the 
plains  of  Roscommon,  besides  other  valuable  considera¬ 
tions,  which  included  the  permanent  friendship  of  the 
queen  herself. 

Swiftly  upon  his  errand  sped  the  courier,  accompanied 
by  an  impressive  train  of  attendants.  A  friendly  and 
hospitable  reception  and  entertainment  awaited  them,  and 
Dare  accepted  the  terms  they  offered.  One  of  the  courtiers 
expressed  admiration  for  the  amiability  of  the  king  who 
thus  consented  to  part  from  that  which,  on  account  of  his 
power,  the  four  other  provinces  of  Erin  could  not  have 
wrested  from  him.  From  this  praise  a  cup-valorous  asso¬ 
ciate  dissented,  and  maintained  that  it  was  no  credit  to 
him,  since,  had  he  refused,  Meave  of  herself  could  have 
compelled  him  to  surrender  it.  The  steward  of  Dare, 
coming  in  at  this  inopportune  moment,  heard  the  insulting 
vaunt,  and  went  out  in  a  rage  and  bore  to  his  master  the 
remark  he  had  heard.  Dare,  in  a  passion  of  resentment, 
withdrew  his  offer,  swearing  by  all  the  gods  that  Meave 
should  not  have  the  Brown  Bull  by  either  consent  or  force. 
Meave,  on  hearing  of  his  determination,  was  correspond¬ 
ingly  incensed,  and  without  delay  gathered  together  her 
forces  and  declared  war  upon  Dare. 


390 


WOMAN 


In  a  hotly  contested  battle,  the  army  of  Meave  defeated 
that  of  her  adversary,  and  the  Brown  Bull  was  carried 
back  to  her  own  country.  According  to  the  grave  narra¬ 
tive  of  the  chronicler,  the  issue  of  the  bulls  had  yet  to  be 
fought  out  by  the  animals  themselves,  for  no  sooner  did 
the  captive  bull  come  into  the  province  of  Connaught  than 
there  was  precipitated  a  tremendous  conflict  with  his  rival, 
the  bull  of  Ailill.  The  tale  describes  vividly  and  with 
much  of  fabulous  admixture  the  contest,  which  resulted  in 
the  rout  of  the  White-horned.  Thus  was  the  honor  of 
Meave  doubly  sustained  by  the  wage  of  battle. 

This  and  many  other  strange  narratives  with  regard  to 
the  undoubtedly  historical  Meave  have  vested  her  with  a 
halo  of  romance,  and  so  veiled  her  real  personality  that  it 
is  rather  in  her  mythical  than  her  historical  character  that 
she  has  come  down  to  us;  for  there  is  little  doubt  of  her 
being  the  original  of  Queen  Mab  of  fairy  fame.  Spenser 
gathered  much  of  his  fairy  lore  in  Ireland,  and  in  the  sec¬ 
tion  where  this  famous  queen  lived  and  where  grew  up 
the  mass  of  tradition  and  fable  which  must  have  appealed 
strongly  to  the  imagination  of  the  author  of  the  Faerie 
Queen. 

The  intense  religious  character  of  the  Irish  people  is  not 
to  be  accredited  to  the  persistence  of  superstitious  influ¬ 
ences  and  beliefs  in  the  new  garb  of  Christian  enlight¬ 
enment;  for  although  their  exuberant  fancy  has  always 
peopled  their  land  with  races  of  malign  as  well  as  of 
amiable  spirits,  the  real  impress  of  religion  is  that  which 
they  received  from  early  Christian  sources.  Bridget,  the 
saint  who  heads  the  calendar  of  Irish  women  of  sanctity, 
was  born  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century  A.  D.,  and 
survived  until  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixth. 
She  it  was  who,  despite  the  disadvantages  of  her  sex, 
performed  a  work  paralleled  by  but  few  persons  in  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  391 


religious  history  of  the  country.  It  was  inevitable  that 
there  should  have  grown  up  about  her  a  fund  of  story  and 
fable  from  which  it  is  now  difficult  to  distinguish  in  order  to 
give  her  real  work  its  full  appreciation  without  sanctioning 
stories  that  have  their  roots  in  the  soil  of  the  fond  fancy 
of  a  grateful  people. 

As  one  divests  a  rare  parchment  of  its  later  writing  in 
order  that  the  original  manuscript  may  be  studied,  so, 
when  the  after-traditions  and  the  excrescences  of  the 
supernatural  are  removed  from  the  character  of  Bridget, 
her  real  worth  is  seen  and  the  value  of  the  record  of  her 
life,  which  is  thereby  disclosed,  is  greatly  enhanced.  As  to 
her  learning,  her  blameless  character,  her  wisdom,  her 
charity,  and  her  honesty,  there  is  no  manner  of  doubt. 
To  swear  by  her  name  was  to  give  to  the  asseveration  the 
sanctity  of  inviolable  truth. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century  female  monasteries  upon  the  continent  had 
aroused  among  women  a  great  deal  of  religious  enthu¬ 
siasm.  Already  had  the  seeds  of  religion  been  sown  in 
Ireland  by  Patrick,  when  Bridget  came,  imbued  with  the 
ardor  of  religious  training  and  stimulation  received  upon 
the  continent.  The  religious  order  for  women  which  she 
instituted  spread  in  its  ramifications  to  all  parts  of  the 
country.  Many  were  the  widows  and  young  maidens 
who  thronged  to  her  religious  houses;  indeed,  so  great 
was  the  throng,  that  it  became  necessary  to  form  one 
great  central  establishment,  superior  to  and  controlling  the 
activities  of  numerous  other  establishments  which  were 
scattered  throughout  the  land.  She  herself  made  her 
abode  among  the  people  of  Leinster,  who  became  endeared 
to  her  as  her  own  people.  The  monastery  she  reared  amid 
the  green  stretches  of  pasture  received  the  name  of  Cill 
Dara,  or  the  Cell  of  the  Oak,  from  a  giant  oak  which 


392 


WOMAN 


grew  near  by,  and  which  continued  down  to  the  twelfth 
century,  “no  one  daring  to  touch  it  with  a  knife. ”  On 
account  of  the  monastery  and  its  sacred  surroundings,  the 
section  became  the  place  of  residence  of  an  increasing 
number  of  families,  and  from  the  settlement  thus  begun 
arose  the  modern  town  of  Kildare. 

Such  sanctity  and  devotion  to  good  works  as  that  of 
Bridget  attracted  to  her  monastery  many  visitors  of  note. 
Among  those  who  esteemed  it  an  honor  to  have  her  friend¬ 
ship  was  the  chronicler  Gildas.  The  Ey-Bridges,  i.e.,  the 
Isles  of  Bridget,  or  the  Hebrides,  according  to  the  modern 
form  of  their  name,  claim  the  honor  of  holding  in  loving 
embrace  her  mortal  remains.  In  this  claim,  however, 
they  have  a  vigorous  disputant  in  the  town  of  Kildare, 
which  claims  the  renown  of  her  burial. 

Passing  from  the  vague  borderland  between  legend  and 
history,  we  come  down  to  the  twelfth  century,  when 
mediaeval  conditions  were  in  full  force  and  the  manners 
and  customs  already  described  in  connection  with  the 
women  of  the  times  had  full  hold  upon  their  lives.  As 
representative  of  the  spirit  of  the  period,  the  life  of  the 
renowned  Eva,  Princess  of  Leinster  and  Countess  of  Pem¬ 
broke,  may  be  briefly  considered. 

The  history  of  the  sad  princess  centres  about  the  strug¬ 
gles  of  Dermot  to  regain  the  throne  of  Leinster,  from 
which  he  had  been  deposed  by  the  federated  kings.  First 
he  equipped  a  body  of  mercenaries  from  Wales,  only  to  be 
met  with  defeat  in  his  endeavor  to  take  Dublin  from  the 
enemy.  He  appealed  for  aid  to  the  English  king,  Henry  II., 
who  was  then  engaged  in  a  campaign  in  France.  He  did 
not  receive  direct  help  from  that  monarch,  who  himself 
was  looking  with  covetous  eyes  upon  Ireland,  but  he  did 
receive  permission  to  make  recruits  from  among  his  Anglo- 
Norman  subjects.  His  real  aid  came  from  the  Earl  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  393 

Pembroke,  called  Richard  Strongbow.  With  a  large  fleet, 
Dermot  now  set  sail  for  Ireland,  bent  not  only  upon  the 
recovery  of  his  possession  of  Leinster,  but  the  conquest  of 
the  whole  island. 

The  consideration  offered  by  Dermot  to  Pembroke  for 
his  services  was  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Eva,  with  the 
kingdom  of  Leinster  for  a  dowry.  Waterford,  a  town 
then  of  equal  importance  with  Dublin,  was  successively 
besieged  and  sacked;  the  Danes,  who  held  it,  were  driven 
out  with  great  slaughter.  Amid  all  the  horror  of  the  sacked 
city  was  consummated  the  union  of  Eva  and  Richard,  Earl 
Strongbow.  Dublin  became  the  place  of  their  residence. 
A  few  years  thereafter,  the  husband’s  checkered  career 
was  closed  by  a  wound  in  the  foot.  In  Christ  Church, 
Dublin,  lies  the  body  of  the  warrior,  and  the  monument 
displays  the  figure  of  a  recumbent  knight  in  armor,  with 
that  of  his  bride  at  his  side. 

The  national  struggles  of  Scotland  are  as  replete  with 
examples  of  illustrious  women  as  those  of  Ireland;  the 
tragedy  of  the  lives  of  some  of  Scotia’s  daughters  not  only 
serves  to  mark  the  brutal  spirit  of  times  which,  with  all 
their  superficial  glorifying  of  the  sex,  yet  could  with  good 
conscience  make  war  upon  women,  but  also  serves  to  illus¬ 
trate  the  height  of  feminine  devotion  when  called  forth  by 
some  great  occasion  with  its  demand  for  self-abnegation. 
Among  such  heroic  characters  must  ever  be  honorably 
numbered  the  fair  Isobel,  Countess  of  Buchan,  of  whom 
the  poet  Pratt  says: 

“  Mothers  henceforth  shall  proudly  tell 
How  cag’d  and  prison’d  Isobel 
Did  serve  her  country’s  weal.” 

The  nine  years  which  saw  the  struggles  of  a  Wallace 
and  a  Bruce,  from  the  appearance  of  the  former  as  the 


394 


WOMAN 


champion  of  Scottish  rights  to  the  crowning  of  the  latter 
at  Scone,  were  years  big  with  the  fate  of  a  people  full  of 
heroic  purpose  and  undaunted  fortitude.  The  story  of  the 
national  conquest  must  be  sought  elsewhere.  In  1305, 
upon  the  death  of  Wallace,  the  younger  Bruce  was  im¬ 
pelled  to  abandon  the  cause  of  the  King  of  England,  who 
had  been  pleased  to  name  him  in  a  commission  for  the 
direction  of  the  affairs  of  Scotland.  He  made  his  peace 
with  Red  Comyn,  the  leader  of  the  rival  Scottish  faction, 
and  closed  with  him  a  pact  on  the  terms  proposed  by 
Bruce:  “Support  my  title  to  the  crown,  and  I  will  give 
you  my  lands. ”  The  story  of  the  perfidy  of  the  treach¬ 
erous  Comyn  and  of  the  revolt  of  Bruce  against  Edward 
of  England  is  well-known  history.  The  actual  crowning 
of  the  Scottish  chieftain  occurred  on  March  27,  1306.  At 
that  time  appeared  Isobel,  wife  of  John,  Earl  of  Buchan, 
who  asserted  the  claim  to  install  the  king,  which  had  come 
down  of  ancient  right  in  her  family. 

With  great  pomp,  this  illustrious  scion  of  the  house  of 
the  Earls  of  Macduff  led  Bruce  to  the  regal  chair.  The 
English  chronicler  crustily  remarks:  “She  was  mad  for 
the  beauty  of  the  fool  who  was  crowned.”  The  English 
king  was  enraged  at  the  presumption  of  his  vassal,  and 
sent  out  his  soldiers  against  the  Scottish  sovereign.  In  the 
notable  battle  which  followed,  the  forces  of  Bruce  were 
routed  and  he  himself  made  a  fugitive.  Other  reverses 
befell  the  arms  of  the  Scotch,  and  among  those  who  were 
carried  away  captive  to  gratify  the  lust  for  vengeance 
of  the  English  was  the  noble  lady  who  had  proudly 
inducted  Bruce  into  the  royal  power.  Isobel  of  Buchan 
was  carried  to  Berwick,  and  condemned  to  a  fate  which 
can  best  be  described  in  the  words  of  an  early  chron¬ 
icler:  “Because  she  has  not  struck  with  the  sword, 
she  shall  not  die  by  the  sword,  but  on  account  of  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  395 

unlawful  coronation  which  she  performed,  let  her  be  closely 
confined  in  an  abode  of  stone  and  iron,  made  in  the  shape 
of  a  cross,  and  let  her  be  hung  up  out  of  doors  in  the  open 
air  of  Berwick,  that  both  in  her  life  and  after  her  death 
she  may  be  a  spectacle  and  an  eternal  reproach  to  travel¬ 
lers.”  For  four  years  she  suffered  the  imposition  of  this 
heinous  punishment,  which  was  then  mitigated  to  impris¬ 
onment  in  the  monastery  of  Mount  Carmel  at  Berwick. 
After  three  years  she  was  removed  to  the  custody  of 
Flenry  de  Beaumont.  Tier  final  fate  is  unknown,  but  it  is 
presumable  that,  if  she  lived,  her  release  from  durance 
was  secured  by  the  victory  of  Bannockburn. 

Amid  the  misfortunes  which  pressed  thickly  upon  the 
house  of  those  whose  name,  more  than  that  of  any  other, 
is  linked  with  Scotland’s  history — the  mighty  Douglases — 
must  ever  appear  the  sad-visaged  Janet,  Lady  Glamis. 
When  under  the  royal  ban,  remorseless  as  the  will  of  fate, 
the  house  of  Douglas  was  expelled  from  its  native  heath, 
a  woman  of  unusual  nobility  suffered  death  in  the  general 
disaster  to  her  kin.  Gratitude  is  not  a  virtue  of  kings,  or 
else  there  would  have  been  some  remembrance  of  that 
earlier  lady  of  the  Douglas  line,  Catherine  Douglas,  who, 
when  the  assassins  upon  midnight  murder  bent  appeared 
at  the  chamber  of  the  queen  of  James  I.,  opposed  to  their 
entrance — fruitlessly,  indeed,  but  none  the  less  nobly — her 
slender  arm,  which  she  thrust  into  the  staple  to  replace 
the  bar  that  had  been  treacherously  removed.  The  am¬ 
bition  of  the  Douglases,  however,  knew  no  bounds,  and  in 
actual  fact  their  power  often  not  only  rivalled  but  over¬ 
topped  that  of  the  crown.  The  feud,  with  varying  degrees 
of  irritation  and  occasions  of  outbreak,  had  gone  on  until 
the  time  of  James  V.,  when  the  reverses  suffered  by  the 
Douglases  effectually  destroyed  their  power  and  made 
them  fugitives  during  the  reign  of  that  monarch.  That 


396 


WOMAN 


king  had  an  undying  resentment  to  the  Earl  of  Angus, 
who  had  obtained  possession  of  his  person  as  a  child  and 
had  continued  to  be  his  keeper  until  he  finally  slipped  the 
leash  to  take  up  the  sovereignty  unhampered.  One  of 
the  sisters  of  the  mighty  earl,  in  the  flower  of  her  youth, 
became  the  wife  of  Lord  Glamis.  While  her  kinsmen 
were  in  exile,  she  secretly  did  what  she  could  to  further 
their  designs  against  the  Scottish  throne.  Charges  were 
formulated  against  her,  but  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
pressed.  Other  actions  against  her  for  treason  were  in¬ 
stituted  by  her  enemies,  and  she  lived  under  continual 
harassment  and  apprehension  of  danger.  All  her  property 
was  confiscated  as  that  of  a  fugitive  from  the  law  and  one 
tainted  with  treason.  Her  enemies  were  not  satisfied  with 
the  measure  of  revenge  they  had  wrought  upon  her,  and 
were  content  with  nothing  short  of  her  life. 

The  venom  of  the  persecution  is  shown  by  the  nature 
of  the  charge  which  was  trumped  up  against  her  to  ensure 
her  death.  Four  years  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
she  was  indicted  on  the  charge  of  killing  him  by  poison. 
Three  times  the  majority  of  those  summoned  to  serve  on 
the  jury  to  hear  the  charges  against  her  refused  to  attend, 
thus  showing  how  little  faith  the  popular  mind  had  in  the 
sincerity  of  the  indictment  against  her.  As  it  seemed  im¬ 
possible  to  secure  a  jury  to  hear  the  odious  charge  against 
an  innocent  and  high-minded  lady,  the  case  was  allowed 
to  lapse.  Soon  after  this  she  again  married. 

A  description  of  her  which  was  penned  by  a  writer  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  represents  her 
as  having  been  reputed  in  her  prime  the  greatest  beauty 
in  Britain.  “  She  was,”  he  says,  “  of  an  ordinary  stature, 
not  too  fat,  her  mien  was  majestic,  her  eyes  full,  her  face 
was  oval,  and  her  complection  was  delicate  and  extremely 
fair.  Besides  all  these  perfections,  she  was  a  lady  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  397 

singular  chastity;  as  her  body  was  a  finished  piece,  with¬ 
out  the  least  blemish,  so  Heaven  designed  that  her  mind 
should  want  none  of  those  perfections  a  mortal  creature 
can  be  capable  of;  her  modesty  was  admirable,  her  courage 
was  above  what  could  be  expected  from  her  sex,  her  judg¬ 
ment  solid,  her  carriage  was  gaining  and  affable  to  her  in¬ 
feriors,  as  she  knew  well  how  to  behave  herself  to  her 
equals;  she  was  descended  from  one  of  the  most  honorable 
and  wealthy  families  of  Scotland,  and  of  great  interest 
in  the  kingdom,  but  at  that  time  eclipsed. ”  This  is  the 
testimony  of  hearsay,  but,  allowing  for  exaggeration,  the 
great  impression  which  she  made  upon  her  contemporaries 
is  amply  shown. 

The  very  nemesis  of  misfortune  seemed  to  pursue  this 
innocent  lady.  The  next  turn  of  envious  fate  brought  to 
light  a  plot  for  her  destruction  which  was  hatched  in  the 
dark  recesses  of  a  heart  burning  with  passionate  resent¬ 
ment  over  its  inability  to  invade  her  wifely  integrity. 
William  Lyon  had  been  one  of  the  suitors  who  were  dis¬ 
appointed  at  her  acceptance  of  the  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Argyll.  After  several  years  had  elapsed,  this  man  sought 
to  pass  the  limits  of  friendship,  and  had  the  baseness  to 
seek  to  draw  her  away  from  the  path  of  honor.  Her  con¬ 
temptuous  and  indignant  rebuff  rankled  in  his  mind,  and 
led  him  to  lay  a  deep  plot  tending  to  bring  Lady  Glamis 
under  suspicion  of  attempting  to  poison  the  king.  Her 
former  indictment  as  a  poisoner  was  counted  upon  to  give 
probability  to  the  charge.  She,  with  all  other  persons 
under  suspicion  as  parties  to  the  plot,  was  arrested  and 
immured  in  Edinburgh  Castle. 

So  much  of  political  matter  entered  into  the  testimony, 
and  so  skilfully  was  it  wrought,  that  the  jury  found  her 
guilty  of  the  crimes  charged,  namely,  treasonable  com¬ 
munication  with  her  relatives,  the  enemies  of  the  king, 


398 


WOMAN 


and  of  conspiring  to  poison  her  monarch.  The  sentence 
was  that  she  should  be  burned  at  the  stake,  and  the  same 
day  of  its  delivery  it  was  executed.  “She  seemed  to  be 
the  only  unconcerned  person  there,  and  her  beauty  and 
charms  never  appeared  with  greater  advantage  than  when 
she  was  led  to  the  flames;  and  her  soul  being  fortified  with 
support  from  Heaven,  and  the  sense  of  her  own  innocence, 
she  outbraved  death,  and  her  courage  was  equal  in  the 
fire  to  what  it  was  before  her  judges.  She  suffered  those 
torments  without  the  least  noise:  only  she  prayed  devoutly 
for  Divine  assistance  to  support  her  under  her  sufferings. ” 
She  died  as  a  burnt  offering  to  the  hate  which  was  en¬ 
gendered  against  her  line,  but  which  could  be  visited  only 
upon  her,  as  all  others  of  her  house  were  out  of  reach  of 
the  royal  anger. 

Returning  to  Ireland  and  leaving  behind  the  atmosphere 
of  political  machinations  and  persecutions,  it  is  pleasant  to 
take  up  the  characters  of  some  women  of  the  fifteenth 
and  the  sixteenth  centuries  who  for  different  reasons  have 
written  their  names  lastingly  in  the  memories  of  their 
race.  To  be  hailed  as  the  best  woman  of  her  times  was 
the  happy  privilege  of  Margaret  O’Carroll,  who  died  in 
1461.  McFirbis,  the  antiquary  of  Lecan,  her  contempo¬ 
rary,  says  of  her:  “She  was  the  one  woman  that  made 
most  of  preparing  highways,  and  erecting  bridges,  churches 
and  mass-books,  and  of  all  manner  of  things  profitable  to 
serve  God  and  her  soul.”  Her  life  was  most  celebrated 
for  her  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  Saint  James  of  Com- 
postella  in  Spain,  and  her  unbounded  charity.  The  pil¬ 
grimage  followed  upon  a  great  revival  of  religion  which 
seems  to  have  swept  over  Ireland  in  1445.  The  occasion 
of  the  awakening  is  not  known,  other  than  that  following 
upon  the  signs  of  religious  discontent  upon  the  continent 
the  monks  of  Ireland  roused  themselves  to  earnest  and 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  399 


arduous  religious  labors.  The  chronicler  gives  illustra¬ 
tion  of  her  practical  charity  in  the  account  of  her  two 
“invitations  ”:  twice  in  the  one  year  did  she  call  upon  all 
persons  “Irish  and  Scottish”  to  bestow  largely  of  their 
money  and  goods  as  a  feast  for  the  poor.  Thousands 
resorted  to  the  place  of  distribution,  and,  as  each  was 
aided  in  an  orderly  manner,  they  had  their  names  and  the 
amount  and  nature  of  their  relief  entered  in  a  book  kept 
for  the  purpose.  In  summing  up  her  life’s  work,  the 
chronicler  says:  “While  the  world  lasts,  her  very  many 
gifts  to  the  Irish  and  Scottish  nations  cannot  be  numbered. 
God’s  blessing,  the  blessing  of  all  saints,  and  every  our 
blessing  from  Jerusalem  to  Innis  Glauir  be  on  her  going  to 
Heaven,  and  blessed  be  he  that  will  reade  and  will  heare 
this,  for  the  blessing  of  her  soule.  Cursed  be  the  sore  in 
her  breast  that  killed  Margrett.”  Such  a  picture  as  this 
serves  to  offset  the  more  usual  idea  of  the  women  of  Ire¬ 
land  during  the  Middle  Ages  as  coarse,  half-civilized  beings. 
Such  a  character  would  lend  dignity  and  worth  to  any 
people  during  any  age. 

The  many  benefactions  and  the  public  spirit  of  this  great 
lady  make  her  deserving  of  mention  in  any  account  of  the 
development  of  charities.  The  poet  D’Arcy  McGee  has 
immortalized  her  in  a  poem  in  which,  referring  to  the 
occasion  of  her  “great  Invitation,”  he  says: 

“  In  cloth  of  gold,  like  a  queen  new-come  out  of  the  royal  wood 
On  the  round,  proud,  white-walled  rath  Margeret  O’Carroll  stood; 

That  day  came  guests  to  Rath  Imayn  from  afar  from  beyond  the  sea 
Bards  and  Bretons  of  Albyn  and  Erin— to  feast  in  Offaly 

To  be  celebrated  for  beauty  alone  is  the  prerogative  of 
a  few  of  the  women  of  the  ages.  What  nation  is  there 
that  does  not  hold  in  as  cherished  regard  the  women  who 
have  represented  its  noblest  physical  possibilities  as  their 


400 


WOMAN 


women  of  unusual  sanctity  or  those  who  have  glorified 
their  literature  or  ennobled  their  arts?  A  beautiful  woman 
— a  woman  whose  beauty  is  not  alone  flawless  in  feature 
and  full  of  the  instinctive  intellectuality  of  a  soul  mirrored 
in  a  countenance,  but  also  typical  of  the  expression  of 
racial  characteristics,  is  as  much  a  product  of  ages,  as 
much  a  climax  of  evolution  at  the  point  of  perfection, 
as  the  saint,  the  artist,  the  dramatist  who  marks  a 
period  and  exalts  a  people.  To  pass  down  in  history  as 
an  exceptional  beauty  is  to  inspire  art  ideals  and  to 
furnish  a  theme  for  the  lyricist.  Frailty  is  often  found 
united  with  such  exceptional  beauty,  so  is  it  with  excep¬ 
tional  genius;  alas!  that  predominating  gifts  should  be 
so  often  inimical  to  balance.  To  find  such  beauty  in  the 
way  of  virtue  is  as  grateful  as  to  find  an  orchid  exhaling 
perfume. 

In  the  tales  of  fair  women,  the  Fair  Geraldine,  who  was 
born  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  must  always 
be  celebrated,  not  only  as  a  typical  Irish  beauty,  but  as  a 
woman  whose  virtues  were  of  a  similar  order  to  her  phys¬ 
ical  charms.  She  was  the  second  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Kildare  by  his  second  wife,  Lady  Elizabeth  Grey,  and  in¬ 
herited  from  both  sides  of  this  union,  which  was  most 
auspicious,  the  high  breeding  and  gentle  graces  which 
fitted  well  her  gracious  carriage  and  great  beauty  and 
served,  by  enhancing  her  physical  charms,  to  attract  to 
her  a  wide  circle  of  friends  and  to  secure  for  her  the 
knightly  attendance  of  a  band  of  distinguished  suitors. 
She  was  taken  to  England  to  be  educated,  and  at  court  re¬ 
ceived  the  polish  which  perfected  the  jewel  of  her  beauty. 
She  made  her  home  with  a  second  cousin  of  her  mother, 
Lady  Mary,  who  was  afterward  England’s  queen.  While 
quite  young  she  was  appointed  maid  of  honor  to  her  kins¬ 
woman.  Already  her  charms  had  ripened  to  the  point  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  40 1 


eliciting  from  the  poet,  soldier,  and  politician,  Henry,  Earl 
of  Surrey,  the  high  praise  of  the  following  sonnet: 

“  From  Tuscane  came  my  lady’s  worthy  race, 

Fair  Florence  was  sometime  her  ancient  seat. 

The  western  isle,  whose  pleasant  shore  doth  face 
Wild  Cambor’s  cliffs,  did  give  her  lively  heat. 

Fostered  she  was  with  milk  of  Irish  breast; 

Her  sire  an  Earl,  her  dame  of  Princes’  blood, 

From  tender  years  in  Britain  doth  she  rest, 

With  King’s  child ;  where  she  tasteth  costly  food. 

Hunsdon  did  first  present  her  to  mine  eyes; 

Bright  is  her  hue,  and  Geraldine  she  hight. 

Hampton  me  taught  to  wish  her  first  as  mine, 

And  Windsor,  alas !  doth  chase  her  from  my  sight. 

Her  beauty  of  kind;  her  virtues  from  above, 

Happy  is  he  that  can  attain  her  love.” 

The  noble  earl  who  lamented  that  Windsor  chased  her 
from  his  sight  was  suffering  incarceration  in  Windsor 
Castle  for  eating  meat  in  Lent.  That  the  Fair  Geraldine 
had  made  full  conquest  of  his  heart  is  shown  by  his  con¬ 
duct  at  a  tournament  at  Florence,  where  he  defied  the 
world  to  produce  her  equal.  He  was  victorious,  and  the 
palm  was  awarded  the  Irish  beauty.  Again,  he  is  found 
resorting  to  a  famous  alchemist  of  the  day  to  enable  him  to 
peer  into  the  future,  that  he  might  know  what  disposition 
of  her  heart  would  be  made  by  the  lady  of  his  affections. 
The  only  satisfaction  he  obtained  was  the  seeing  of  Ger¬ 
aldine  recumbent  upon  a  couch  reading  one  of  his  sonnets. 
This  must  have  stirred  his  blood  and  have  strengthened 
his  faith  in  the  ultimate  success  of  his  wooing.  Had  he 
obtained  the  revelation  he  sought,  he  would  have  seen  the 
adored  beauty,  with  that  curious  inconsistency  of  her  sex, 
bestowing  herself  upon  Sir  Anthony  Brown,  a  man  sixty 
years  of  age,  and  who  was  forty-four  years  her  senior. 
After  his  death  she  married  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  whom  she 
also  survived.  There  is  no  further  record  of  the  beauty 


402 


WOMAN 


whose  fame  extended  over  England  and  Ireland.  The  cir¬ 
cumstance  of  Surrey’s  visit  to  the  alchemist  has  been 
preserved  in  Scott’s  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel: 

“  Fair  all  the  pageant — but  how  passing  fair 
The  slender  form  that  lay  on  couch  of  Ind ! 

O’er  her  white  bosom  strayed  her  hazel  hair, 

Pale  her  dear  cheek,  as  if  for  love  she  pined ; 

All  in  her  night-robe  ioose  she  lay  reclined 
And,  pensive,  read  from  tablet  eburine 
Some  strain  that  seemed  her  inmost  soul  to  find ; 

That  favored  strain  was  Surrey’s  raptured  line, 

That  fair  and  lovely  form,  the  Ladye  Geraldine.” 

In  the  picturesque  annals  of  the  piracy  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  England  was  getting  that  sea  training  which 
was  to  make  her  the  undisputed  naval  power  of  the  world, 
when  the  Turkish  corsair  spread  the  terror  of  his  savage 
brutality  through  the  hearts  of  the  brave  seamen  who 
manned  the  craft  of  legitimate  commerce,  at  a  time  when 
the  trade  routes  of  the  sea  were  the  paths  of  piracy,  and 
the  sabre,  the  cutlass,  and  the  newly  invented  gunpowder 
were  depended  upon  to  establish  the  right  of  way  for  the 
ships  of  the  nations,  there  appears  no  more  daring  character 
than  Grainne  O’Malley.  Many  stories  of  her  prowess  are 
still  current  in  the  west  of  Ireland,  and  the  political  ballads  of 
her  time  make  frequent  allusion  to  the  sea  queen.  For  the 
greater  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  she  lived,  an  example  of 
that  splendid  virility  which  is  yet  characteristic  of  the  hardy 
Irish  peasantry,  when  not  under  the  shadow  of  famine. 

She  came  of  right  by  her  seafaring  proclivities,  for  from 
the  earliest  period  the  O’Malleys  have  been  celebrated  as 
rivalling  the  Vikings  in  their  love  of  the  sea.  In  the  four¬ 
teenth  century  a  bard  is  found  singing: 

“A  good  man  never  was  there 
Of  the  O’Mailly’s  but  a  mariner; 

The  prophets  of  the  weather  are  ye, 

A  tribe  of  affection  and  brotherly  love.” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  403 


Grainne  O’Malley,  with  all  her  depredations  upon  the 
sea,  was  no  common  pirate;  through  her  veins  ran  the 
royal  blood  of  the  line  of  Connaught,  and,  despite  her 
serviceability  to  the  English  as  a  freebooting  ally  upon 
the  western  coasts  of  the  island,  she  acknowledged  no 
higher  power  than  her  own.  Her  title  of  dignity  was  re¬ 
garded  as  inviolable.  Quite  worthy  of  the  brush  of  an 
artist  was  the  scene  presented  by  the  reception  at  court 
of  the  wild  Irish  chieftainess.  Disdaining  land  travel,  she 
performed  the  whole  trip  to  London  by  water,  sailing  up 
the  Thames  to  the  Tower  Gate.  The  little  son  who  was 
born  upon  this  voyage  was  fittingly  called  Theobald  of 
the  Ship.  There  has  come  down  to  us  no  account  of  the 
meeting  of  the  two  queens,  but  one  may  readily  imagine 
the  scene — the  blonde  Elizabeth,  thin,  unbeautiful,  her 
scant  features  lined  by  petulance,  but  with  indomitable 
will  shown  in  the  turn  of  her  mouth  and  the  strength  of 
her  chin,  and  the  large-limbed,  full-bodied  Irish  woman, 
dressed  in  the  semi-wild  attire  of  her  race  and  of  her  call¬ 
ing,  her  arms,  her  wrists,  her  ankles,  gleaming  with  cir¬ 
clets  of  gold,  a  fillet  of  massive  metal  binding  her  hair,  her 
mantle  caught  up  at  the  shoulder  by  an  immense,  ornately 
wrought  brooch.  Courteously,  but  with  no  sign  of  inferior¬ 
ity  in  her  demeanor,  her  swarthy  skin  showing  the  dash 
of  Spanish  blood  in  her  veins,  and  her  eyes  flashing  with 
the  light  of  an  unconquered  spirit,  stood  the  female  bucca¬ 
neer  before  the  woman  who  had  rule  of  England.  The  best 
tradition  of  the  results  of  the  interview  tell  us  that  a 
treaty  was  effected  between  the  two,  but  that  the  Irish 
chieftainess  did  not  yield  an  iota  of  her  royal  claims. 

Thus  was  cemented  a  union  between  the  English  throne 
and  the  piratical  leader.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  how¬ 
ever,  that  piracy  was  not  then  the  despicable  vice  that  it 
afterward  came  to  be  regarded.  The  commerce  of  the 


404 


WOMAN 


enemy  was  always  lawful  spoil,  and,  even  when  there 
was  not  actually  a  state  of  hostilities  existing  between 
countries,  preying  upon  one  another’s  commerce  was  often 
regarded  as  a  semi-legitimate  industry;  and  if  the  free¬ 
booter  kept  out  of  reach  of  the  enemy,  he  was  not  likely 
to  be  seriously  sought  out  for  punishment  by  the  authori¬ 
ties  of  his  own  country.  The  exploiters  of  the  New  World, 
under  the  title  of  merchant-adventurers,  were  for  the  most 
part  pirates;  the  Spanish  galleons  were  always  lawful 
spoil  for  the  English  merchantman,  who  knew  the  trick  of 
painting  out  the  name  of  his  craft,  giving  it  a  garb  of  pirat¬ 
ical  black,  using  a  false  flag,  spoiling  the  enemy  after  some 
swift,  hard  fighting,  and  then  resuming  again  his  real  or 
assumed  pacific  character.  In  the  light  of  her  times  must 
Grainne  O’Malley  be  regarded. 

As  a  sea  queen  she  is  without  parallel  in  any  time;  and 
if  the  stain  of  their  piracy  does  not  attach  to  her  English 
contemporaries,  Drake,  Raleigh,  and  Gilbert,  no  more 
should  it  to  her.  By  force  of  a  powerful  individuality, 
she  ruled  a  race  of  men  who  were  noted  as  the  most  law¬ 
less  of  all  Ireland,  men  among  whom  women  as  a  class 
were  so  little  esteemed  that  they  were  not  allowed  to  hold 
property.  An  early  traditional  account  of  this  woman  of 
the  waves,  which  is  preserved  in  manuscript  at  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,  Dublin,  describes  her  as  follows: 

“  She  was  a  great  pirate  and  plunderer  from  her  youth. 
It  is  Transcended  to  us  by  Tradition  that  the  very  Day 
she  was  brought  to  bed  of  her  first  Child  that  a  Turkish 
Corsair  attacked  her  ships,  and  that  they  were  Getting 
the  Better  of  her  Men,  she  got  up,  put  her  Quilt  about 
her  and  a  string  about  her  neck,  took  two  Blunder  Bushes 
in  her  hands,  came  on  deck,  began  damming  and  Capering 
about,  her  monstrous  size  and  odd  figure  surprised  the 
Turks,  their  officers  gathered  themselves  talking  of  her;  this 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  405 


was  what  she  wanted,  stretched  both  her  hands,  fired  the 
two  Blunder  Bushes  at  them  and  Destroyed  the  officers. ” 
Many  are  the  deeds  of  prowess  ascribed  to  her,  and  so  wide¬ 
spread  was  her  fame  that  desperate  characters  came  from 
all  parts  to  enroll  themselves  under  her  standard.  Her  ser¬ 
viceability  to  the  English,  to  whose  extending  power  she 
had  the  good  sense  not  to  put  herself  in  opposition,  secured 
to  her  the  right  to  continue  her  depredations. 

With  all  her  daring  and  the  romance  with  which  tradi¬ 
tion  has  surrounded  her,  she  was  not,  nor  does  the  report 
of  her  times  represent  her  as  having  been,  handsome.  In 
fact,  notwithstanding  that  the  Anglicized  form  of  her  given 
name  is  Grace,  its  real  meaning  is  “the  ugly.”  Her  first 
husband  was  an  O’Flaherty,  the  terror  of  which  name  is 
preserved  in  the  litany  of  the  Anglo-Norman,  recalling  the 
capture  of  the  city  of  Galway  and  the  surrounding  country: 
“From  the  ferocious  O’Flaherties, — Good  Lord,  deliver 
us.”  The  same  words,  as  a  talisman,  were  inscribed  over 
the  gate  of  the  city.  We  know  little  of  the  representa¬ 
tive  of  this  family  who  became  the  husband  of  Grainne 
O’Malley.  Her  second  husband  was  Sir  Richard  Bourke, 
of  the  Mayo  division  of  a  great  Norman-Irish  clan.  It  was 
after  contracting  this  alliance  that  Grainne  O’Malley  put 
herself  under  the  protection  of  the  English  rule  in  Con¬ 
naught.  Sidney,  the  lord-deputy,  referring  to  his  visit  to 
Galway  in  1 576,  says:  “  There  came  to  me  a  most  famous 
female  sea-captain,  called  Granny-I-Mallye,  and  offered 
her  services  to  me,  wheresoever  I  would  command  her, 
with  three  galleys  and  two  hundred  fighting  men,  either  in 
Ireland  or  Scotland.  She  brought  with  her  her  husband, 
for  she  was,  as  well  by  sea  as  by  land,  more  than  master’s 
mate  with  him.  He  was  of  the  nether  Bourkes,  and  now, 
as  I  hear,  MacWilliam  Euter,  and  called  by  the  nickname 
'  Richard  in  Iron.’  This  was  a  notorious  woman  in  all  the 


406 


WOMAN 


coasts  of  Ireland.  This  woman  did  Sir  Philip  see  and 
speak  with:  he  can  more  at  large  inform  you  of  her.” 

The  personal  character  of  this  female  buccaneer  was 
never  called  into  question;  saving  only  her  piratical  pro¬ 
clivities,  she  seems  to  have  been  exemplary.  The  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  her  life  at  the  death  of  her  first  husband 
forced  her,  a  daughter  of  a  pirate,  to  the  seas  as  a  “thrade 
of  maintenance,”  as  she  apologetically  put  it  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  She  founded  and  endowed  religious  houses, 
and  the  attitude  she  maintained  toward  the  powers  higher 
than  she  was  in  the  furtherance  of  the  peace  of  her  coun¬ 
try.  Yet  her  good  deeds  have  not  been  borne  in  the  same 
remembrance  as  her  piratical  performances.  With  this 
account  of  the  adventurous  Irish  woman,  we  may  turn  to 
a  very  different  picture,  taken  from  Scotland. 

The  annals  of  the  Scottish  border  are  replete  with  stories 
of  cruel  warfare  and  of  savage  vengeance.  The  wars  of 
England  with  the  valorous  Scots  present  hardly  more  in¬ 
stances  of  heroism  and  of  brutality  than  do  the  accounts 
of  the  feuds  which  arose  between  the  clans  themselves.  Of 
the  first  sort  was  the  expedition  which  Bluff  King  Hal  sent 
out  to  punish  the  Scots  for  becoming  incensed  at  the  insolent 
tone  and  the  humiliating  conditions  he  imposed  on  the  nego¬ 
tiations  looking  to  the  marriage  of  his  young  son,  afterward 
Edward  VI.,  and  the  infant  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. 

The  English  conducted  a  series  of  savage  forays  across 
the  Scottish  border.  Their  success  led  the  leaders  of  the 
invading  army  to  represent  to  Henry  that,  owing  to  the 
distracted  condition  of  Scotland  on  account  of  the  internal 
disorders,  the  time  was  peculiarly  auspicious  for  a  perma¬ 
nent  conquest  of  a  large  part  of  the  border.  Under  com¬ 
mission  of  the  English  king  to  effect  such  a  conquest,  they 
returned  and  renewed  their  attack.  The  tower  of  Broom- 
house,  held  by  an  aged  woman  and  her  family,  was  consigned 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  407 


to  the  flames,  and  she  and  her  children  perished  in  the 
conflagration.  Melrose  Abbey  was  wantonly  plundered 
and  ruined,  and  the  bones  of  the  Douglases  were  taken 
from  their  tombs  and  scattered  about.  Next,  the  little  vil¬ 
lage  of  Maxton  was  burned.  All  its  inhabitants  had  made 
good  their  escape  excepting  a  maiden  of  high  courage  and 
deep  devotion,  who  remained  with  her  bed-ridden  parents. 
The  approach  of  the  enemy  meant  their  destruction.  The 
village  maid  had  a  lover,  who,  on  finding  that  she  was  not 
with  the  refugees,  returned  to  the  town  and  forcibly  car¬ 
ried  her  off,  although  he  was  grievously  wounded  in  the 
act  of  doing  so.  After  he  had  effected  her  rescue,  the 
brave  savior,  breathing  with  his  expiring  breath  a  prayer 
of  thankfulness  that  he  had  been  permitted  to  yield  up  his 
life  for  her  who  was  more  than  life  to  him,  died  of  ex¬ 
haustion  and  of  his  wounds.  The  measure  of  iniquity 
was  complete,  and,  although  many  other  bloody  deeds 
were  perpetrated  in  this  warfare,  the  instrument  of  venge¬ 
ance  was  at  hand;  when  the  hour  came  that  marked  a  turn 
in  the  tide: 

“Ancrum  Moor 
Ran  red  with  English  blood  ; 

Where  the  Douglas  true  and  the  bold  Buccleuch 
’Gainst  keen  Lord  Evers  stood.” 

When  the  battle  was  over  and  the  English  had  been 
driven  with  great  slaughter  from  the  field,  the  body  of  the 
English  general  was  found  near  that  of  a  young  Scottish 
soldier  with  flowing  yellow  tresses/  who  was  mangled  by 
many  wounds.  The  delicacy  of  feature  soon  led  to  the  dis¬ 
covery  that  the  slayer  of  the  English  leader  was  a  woman, 
and  her  identification  as  the  maiden  Liliard  of  the  hamlet  of 
Maxton  followed.  So  had  she  avenged  the  cruel  slaughter 
of  her  aged  and  helpless  parents  and  that  of  the  devoted 
lover  who  had  laid  down  his  life  in  her  behalf.  In  a  borrowed 


408 


WOMAN 


suit  of  armor  and  weapons  she  had  arrayed  herself  under 
the  Red  Douglas,  that  she  might  seek  out  him  who  was  the 
author  of  her  calamities,  to  visit  upon  him  the  vengeance  of 
her  desolation,  and  yield  up  the  life  she  no  longer  valued. 

Upon  the  bloody  field  her  compatriots  interred  her  who 
was  thereafter  to  be  held  in  dear  regard  as  one  of  Scot¬ 
land’s  noblest  daughters.  Above  the  head  of  “  Liliard  of 
Ancrum  ”  was  erected  a  gravestone  with  the  following  in¬ 
scription  to  commemorate  her  valor: 

“  Fair  maiden  Liliard  lies  under  this  stane, 

Little  was  her  stature,  but  great  was  her  fame ; 

Upon  the  English  loons  she  laid  mony  thumps, 

And  when  her  legs  were  cutted  off,  she  fought  upon  her  stumps.” 

Ancrum  Moor  was  fought  in  1544.  James  V.  had  died 
two  years  earlier,  and  the  crown  of  Scotland  had  devolved 
upon  his  infant  daughter,  Mary.  Henry  VIII.  was  bent  on 
securing  the  Scotch  kingdom,  and  to  that  end  persisted  in 
urging  the  betrothal  of  Prince  Edward  to  the  infant  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots;  but  the  Scots  were  equally  averse  to  the 
alliance,  hence  Henry  continued  to  harass  the  kingdom  by 
armed  forces.  After  Edward  VI.  succeeded  his  father,  he 
continued  to  sue  for  Mary’s  hand,  and  made  use  of  military 
force  in  the  hope  of  accomplishing  his  object.  The  child- 
queen’s  safety  being  in  constant  jeopardy,  she  was  be¬ 
trothed  to  the  Dauphin  of  France,  and  in  1548  left  for  the 
court  of  France.  In  her  sixteenth  year  she  married 
Francis,  making  at  the  same  time  a  secret  treaty  bestow¬ 
ing  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  on  France,  in  case  she  died 
without  an  heir.  Francis  II.,  however,  died  in  1560,  and 
Mary  returned  to  Scotland  the  following  year.  Here,  her 
Roman  Catholic  practices  soon  brought  her  into  conflict 
with  Knox,  but  for  a  time  she  managed  to  rule  without 
serious  troubles.  Romantic  adventure,  however,  best 


SsO-ftyUpAC  SSOyJsy  %'donJ 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  409 


describes  the  life  of  this  lovely  queen.  She  was  beset  with 
suitors  and  pestered  with  intrigue  for  her  favor.  The  most 
popularly  known  story  in  connection  with  her  life  is  that 
of  her  relation  to  Rizzio,  her  Italian  confidant.  He  it  was 
who  arranged  Mary’s  marriage  to  Darnley,  and  it  was  his 
influence  over  her  that  finally  led  to  his  own  assassination 
by  Darnley  and  his  companions  in  Holyrood  Palace  in 
1566.  Shortly  thereafter  the  queen  gave  birth  to  Prince 
James;  and  from  this  time  troubles  and  conspiracies  con¬ 
stantly  involved  the  unhappy  queen,  until  her  execution 
in  1586  for  her  association  in  the  Babington  conspiracy 
against  the  life  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

It  was  while  the  partisans  of  Queen  Mary  and  those  of 
her  young  son  James  were  imbruing  the  soil  of  Scotland 
with  one  another’s  blood,  and  when  all  the  horrors  of 
internecine  warfare  were  being  perpetrated,  there  was 
lighted  a  flame  that  added  a  heroine  to  the  country’s  list 
of  women  who  have  honorably  earned  that  title.  There 
appeared  one  day  before  Corgaff  Castle,  in  Strathdon, 
Captain  Kerr  and  a  party  of  men,  sent  by  the  deputy 
lieutenant  of  the  queen,  Sir  Adam  Gordon  of  Auchindown, 
to  capture  and  to  hold  it.  Between  the  houses  of  Gordon 
and  Forbes  existed  a  deadly  feud,  although  they  were 
united  by  marriage.  The  Forbeses  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  king,  while  the  Gordons  were  arrayed  on 
the  side  of  the  queen.  This  added  to  the  bitterness  of 
their  feeling,  and  accounts  for  the  stubbornness  which 
Lady  Towie  displayed  when  called  upon  to  surrender. 
Her  husband,  John  Forbes,  the  Laird  of  Towie,  was  in  the 
field  with  his  three  sons;  the  defence  of  the  castle  accord¬ 
ingly  fell  upon  her.  When  the  Gordons  appeared  before 
the  castle  and  demanded  its  subjection,  its  noble  defender 
replied  in  such  scornful  terms  to  Captain  Kerr,  the  leader 
of  the  besieging  force,  that  he  swore  that  he  would  wipe 


4io 


WOMAN 


out  the  stigma  of  her  insult  with  her  blood.  As  it  was  im¬ 
possible  to  carry  the  castle  by  assault  without  the  aid  of 
artillery,  he  resorted  to  fire — not,  however,  before  the 
brave  lady  had  shot  her  pistol  at  him  pointblank,  missing 
her  aim,  but  yet  grazing  the  captain’s  knee  with  the  bullet. 

In  spite  of  the  plea  of  her  sick  stepson,  she  resolutely 
determined  to  perish  in  the  flames  which  were  spreading 
through  the  castle  from  the  fire  started  by  the  enemy  in  a 
breach  of  the  castle  wall. 

This  incident  of  the  siege  is  described  in  an  old  ballad: 

“Oh,  then  out  spake  her  youngest  son, 

Sat  on  the  nurse’s  knee: 

Says— ‘  Mither,  dear,  gie  o’er  this  house, 

For  the  reek  it  smithers  me.’ 

“  ‘I  would  gie  all  my  gold,  my  bairn, 

Sae  would  I  all  my  fee, 

For  ae  blast  o’  the  Westlin’  wind 
To  blaw  the  reek  frae  thee.’  ” 

Next,  her  daughter  appealed  to  her  that  she  might  be 
sewed  up  in  a  sheet  and  let  down  the  tower  wall.  To 
this  the  mother  assented.  The  maiden  was  thus  lowered 
to  the  ground,  only  to  be  received  upon  the  spear  of  the 
brutal  captain: 

“  O  then  out  spake  her  daughter  dear, 

She  was  baith  jimp  and  small : 

‘Oh,  row  me  in  a  pair  of  sheets, 

And  tow  me  o’er  the  wall.’ 


“Oh,  bonnie,  bonnie  was  her  mouth, 

And  cherry  was  her  cheeks ; 

And  clear,  clear  was  her  yellow  hair, 
Whereon  the  red  bluid  dreeps. 

“Then  with  his  spear  he  turned  her  o’er; 
Oh,  gin  her  face  was  wan ! 

He  said — ‘  You  are  the  first  that  e’er 
I  wish’d  alive  again.’  ” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  41 1 


Of  the  thirty-seven  persons  in  the  castle,  Lady  Towie, 
her  stepson,  her  three  young  children,  and  her  retainers, 
none  escaped  the  holocaust;  the  roof  of  the  keep  fell  in 
and  carried  them  down  into  the  flames.  So  perished  one 
of  the  bravest  and  most  spirited  women  of  her  times.  The 
retribution  which,  in  the  later  circumstances  of  the  feud, 
was  wrought  upon  those  responsible  for  this  massacre 
does  not  concern  us  here.  The  heroism  of  Lady  Towie’s 
defence  of  Corgaff  Castle  has  furnished  a  theme  for  other 
poets  than  the  obscure  bard  whom  we  have  quoted;  the 
bravery  to  the  point  of  rashness  which  she  displayed 
endears  her  to  the  heart  of  the  Scotchman  who  glories  in 
the  deeds  of  courage  of  his  race. 

One  of  the  sweetest  stories  of  devotion  to  be  found  in 
the  history  of  Scotland’s  women  is  that  which  centres 
about  the  knightly  house  of  Cromlix  and  Ardoch.  Sir 
James  Chisholm  was  born  in  the  early  part  of  the  six¬ 
teenth  century,  and,  as  a  youth,  was  sent  to  France  for 
the  completion  of  his  education.  Before  his  departure  he 
had  exchanged  with  fair  Helen  Stirling,  of  the  house  of 
Ardoch,  vows  of  undying  affection.  This  young  lady, 
because  of  her  beauty,  had  achieved  wide  local  celebrity, 
and  throughout  the  countryside  she  was  called  “Fair 
Helen  of  Ardoch.”  The  two  young  people  had  been 
brought  up  in  each  other’s  society,  and,  as  they  grew  in 
years,  began  to  feel  for  each  other  that  tenderness  of  senti¬ 
ment  which,  while  they  were  yet  in  their  teens,  led  to 
mutual  avowals  of  love.  Their  parents  were  not  averse 
to  the  match,  after  the  young  people  should  have  arrived 
at  a  more  suitable  age  for  marriage.  The  course  of  their 
love  ran  smoothly,  until  the  separation  came  by  Sir  James 
going  abroad.  As  their  relatives  were  not  favorable  to  a 
correspondence  between  the  young  people,  the  good  offices 
of  a  friend  were  invoked.  He  received  the  letters  of  both 


412 


WOMAN 


parties,  and  saw  that  they  were  sent  to  their  respective 
destinations.  The  correspondence  went  happily  on;  his 
letters  were  full  of  pleasing  gossip  about  the  belles  and 
beauties  of  France,  of  society  and  manners,  everything, 
indeed,  that  a  young  lover  of  reflective  and  poetic  tem¬ 
perament  would  be  likely  to  pen  to  the  lady  of  his  heart 
from  whom  he  was  separated  by  a  distance  which  could 
be  made  communicable  only  by  correspondence. 

Almost  a  year  had  sped  away  when  the  letters  received 
by  Helen  became  less  frequent  and  then  stopped.  She 
wrote  again  and  again,  but  in  vain;  she  received  no  re¬ 
plies.  The  agent  of  the  young  people  then  professed  to 
write  himself  to  her  recreant  lover,  and  informed  her  that 
he  had  discovered  that  the  attachment  of  the  young  man 
for  her  had  waned  and  that  he  was  to  marry  a  French 
beauty.  His  condolence  was  apparently  so  sincere  and 
delicately  phrased  that  when  he  proffered  her  his  love 
there  was  in  her  breast  some  degree  of  kindly  sentiment 
toward  him,  which,  while  of  a  very  different  nature  from 
her  feeling  for  the  one  who  had  discarded  her,  was  yet  such 
as  to  lead  her  to  assent  finally  to  his  suit;  not,  however, 
before  many  considerations  had  been  skilfully  brought  to 
bear  upon  her,  not  the  least  of  which  were  the  desires  of 
her  kindred. 

The  wedding  day  was  set,  and  before  the  assembled 
guests,  forming  a  brilliant  gathering,  the  bride  appeared  in 
rich  adornings,  but  pale,  her  bosom  heaving  with  sobs. 
The  ceremony  was  performed.  Then  occurred  a  dramatic 
scene;  some  whisper  seemed  to  reach  the  bride’s  ear;  to 
the  amazement  of  the  guests,  she  turned  upon  her  husband 
and  denounced  him  as  the  blackest  of  traitors.  She  de¬ 
clared  that  her  own  letters  and  those  of  her  lover  had  been 
kept  back,  and  that  she  knew  that  her  lover  had  landed  in 
Scotland  and  would  vindicate  his  honor.  She  vowed  in  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  41 3 


presence  of  Heaven  that  she  would  never  acknowledge  as 
her  husband  the  man  she  had  just  wedded,  nor  would  she 
ever  leave  for  him  her  father’s  roof.  Amid  shouts  of 
derision,  the  false  bridegroom  hastily  left  the  house.  The 
young  lover  had  indeed  landed  in  the  country,  and  was 
hastening  to  his  beloved  that  he  might  prove  to  her  that 
he  had  been  grossly  slandered  and  she  grievously  deceived. 
The  knowledge  of  the  situation  did  not  reach  him  in  time 
to  forestall  the  plans  of  his  rival,  and  not  until  his  arrival 
home  did  he  find  out  the  full  facts  of  the  case  and  have  his 
mind  entirely  relieved  of  the  thought  of  his  love’s  perfidy. 
Legal  measures  were  speedily  taken  for  the  dissolution  of 
the  hateful  bonds,  and  the  young  lady  was  united  to  the  one 
to  whom,  notwithstanding  her  acquiescence  in  the  wishes 
of  others,  her  heart  had  been  true. 

The  maid  of  Ardoch’s  story  has  been  variously  told. 
The  most  familiar  form  of  it  is  that  found  in  Robert  Burns’s 
Observations  on  Scottish  Songs.  The  romance  has  taken 
strong  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  Scotch  race,  through 
a  simple  melody  which  has  held  the  interest  of  the  people 
for  nearly  three  centuries.  This  ballad  was  written  by 
the  young  lover  himself  on  board  the  ship  that  was  bear¬ 
ing  him  back  to  Scotland.  The  first  verse  is  as  follows: 

“  Since  all  thy  vows,  false  maid, 

Are  blown  to  air, 

And  my  poor  heart  betrayed 
To  sad  despair, 

Into  some  wilderness, 

My  grief  I  will  express, 

And  thy  hard-heartedness, 

O  cruel  fair  l” 

As  fearless  as  the  Scotch  heroine  Lady  Towie  in  the 
defence  of  her  castle  was  the  Irish  heroine  Lettice,  Baroness 
of  Ophaly,  in  the  famous  defence  of  the  castle  of  Geashill 


414 


WOMAN 


in  Queen’s  County.  The  one  lived  in  the  sixteenth,  the 
other  belonged  to  the  seventeenth  century.  The  Baroness 
Ophaly  was  of  the  famous  house  of  Geraldine,  heir  in 
general  to  the  house  of  Kildare,  and  inherited  the  barony 
of  Geashill.  She  married  Sir  Robert  Digby,  and  after  his 
death  returned  to  Ireland.  She  was  a  model  mistress  to 
her  household  and  her  tenantry.  Although  a  woman  of 
brilliant  attainments,  she  was  yet  content  to  live  in  a  quiet 
way,  performing  the  congenial  duties  of  administrator 
of  the  affairs  of  her  household,  and  being  held  in  affec¬ 
tionate  regard  by  all  those  dependent  upon  her.  In  1641, 
however,  the  quiet  current  of  her  daily  life  was  broken  in 
its  flow;  civil  war  devastated  the  land.  The  rebels  thought 
to  find  in  the  defenceless  situation  of  the  widowed  lady,  with 
her  brood  of  young  children,  an  opportunity  for  plunder 
and  ravage  with  little  prospect  of  serious  resistance.  A 
motley  throng  appeared  before  the  castle  and  demanded 
possession.  They  then  presented  to  her  a  written  order  as 
follows:  “We,  his  Majesty’s  loyal  subjects,  at  the  present 
employed  in  his  Highness’s  service,  for  the  sacking  of 
your  castle;  you  are  therefore  to  deliver  unto  us  the  free 
possession  of  your  said  castle,  promising  faithfully  that  your 
ladyship,  together  with  the  rest  within  your  said  castle 
resiant,  shall  have  reasonable  composition;  otherwise,  upon 
the  non-yielding  of  the  castle,  we  do  assure  you  that  we 
shall  burn  the  whole  town,  kill  all  the  Protestants,  and 
spare  neither  woman  nor  child,  upon  taking  the  castle 
by  compulsion.  Consider,  madam,  of  this  our  offer;  im¬ 
pute  not  the  blame  of  your  folly  unto  us.  Think  not 
that  here  we  brag.  Your  ladyship,  upon  submission, 
shall  have  safe  convoy  to  secure  you  from  the  hands 
of  your  enemies,  and  to  lead  you  whither  you  please. 
A  speedy  reply  is  desired  with  all  expedition,  and  then 
we  surcease.” 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  415 

To  this  demand  she  sent  a  reply  temperate  and  dignified, 
but  unyielding.  It  was  as  follows: 

“l  received  your  letter  wherein  you  threaten  to  sack 
this  my  castle  by  his  Majesty’s  authority.  I  have  ever 
been  a  loyal  subject  and  a  good  neighbor  among  you,  and 
therefore  cannot  but  wonder  at  such  an  assault.  I  thank 
you  for  your  offer  of  a  convoy,  wherein  I  hold  little  safety; 
and  therefore  my  resolution  is  that,  being  free  from  offend¬ 
ing  his  Majesty,  or  doing  wrong  to  any  of  you,  I  will  live 
and  die  innocently.  I  will  do  the  best  to  defend  my  own, 
leaving  the  issue  to  God;  and  though  I  have  been,  I  am 
still  desirous  to  avoid  shedding  blood,  yet,  being  provoked, 
your  threats  shall  no  way  dismay  me.” 

The  rebels  took  no  notice  of  her  answer,  but  kept  up 
the  siege.  After  two  months,  Lord  Viscount  Clanmalier 
brought  to  bear  against  the  castle  a  piece  of  ordnance. 
Before  using  this  formidable  instrument,  which  was  cast 
by  a  local  ironworker  out  of  pots  and  pans  contributed  for 
the  purpose,  Clanmalier,  who  was  her  kinsman,  sent  her 
a  letter  repeating  the  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the 
castle.  She  replied  to  this  missive,  which  was  signed 
“your  loving  cousin,”  by  saying  that  she  had  not  ex¬ 
pected  such  treatment  at  the  hands  of  a  kinsman,  repeat¬ 
ing  her  innocence  of  wrong-doing,  and  expressing  her 
adherence  to  her  position  as  stated  in  her  former  reply  to 
similar  demands. 

After  this  answer  had  been  delivered  to  his  lordship  he 
discharged  the  home-made  cannon  at  the  castle,  and  it 
promptly  exploded  at  the  first  shot;  to  which  fact  was 
due  the  ability  of  Baroness  Ophaly  to  hold  the  castle 
against  all  attack  through  the  long  months  until  the  rebel¬ 
lion  had  waned  and  the  besiegers  withdrew.  What  she 
must  have  suffered  during  all  the  dangers  of  the  siege,  in 
which  ingenuity  was  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  effect  an 


416 


WOMAN 


entrance  within  the  strong  walls,  can  never  be  stated;  on 
the  one  hand  was  the  terror  of  famine,  on  the  other, 
death.  When  she  was  rescued  from  her  perilous  situation 
by  Sir  Richard  Greville,  she  went  to  her  husband’s  late 
property  of  Colehill  and  there  spent  the  remainder  of  her 
life,  dying  in  1648. 

Among  the  Scotch  Covenanters,  the  names  of  Isobel 
Alison  of  Perth  and  Marion  Harvie  of  Bo’ness  take  high 
rank  because  of  their  undaunted  courage  and  the  strength 
of  conviction  displayed  by  them.  It  was  in  1679  that  a 
band  of  horsemen  slew  Archbishop  Sharp  upon  Magnus 
Moor  and  then  dispersed.  Four  of  them,  among  whom 
was  John  Balfour  of  Kinloch, — the  redoubtable  Burley  of 
Old  Mortality , — took  refuge  in  the  house  of  a  widow  of  the 
vicinity  of  Perth.  Here  they  remained  hidden,  to  watch 
as  to  what  steps  would  be  taken  in  regard  to  their  appre¬ 
hension.  Afterward  they  retired  to  Dupplin,  thereby 
escaping  seizure.  On  June  22d  the  battle  of  Bothwell 
Brig  was  fought  and  lost  to  the  Covenanters.  At  about 
this  time  the  first  subject  of  this  sketch,  Isobel  Alison,  an 
obscure  maiden,  comes  into  the  stream  of  historical  occur¬ 
rence.  She  was  about  twenty-five  years  of  age,  resided 
at  Perth,  and  was  of  excellent  repute.  She  had  been 
trained  in  the  strictest  Presbyterian  faith,  and  was  well 
versed  in  the  Scriptures.  She  had  occasionally  had  the 
privilege  of  hearing  field  preaching,  although  field  conven¬ 
ticles  were  not  common  in  the  country.  Her  sympathies 
with  the  persecuted  ministers  of  her  faith  and  her  personal 
acquaintance  with  several  of  them  enlisted  her  aid  for  the 
fugitives  in  hiding  them  from  the  authorities,  whose  search 
for  them  was  relentlessly  pursued.  The  work  of  bloody 
persecution  continued  for  eighteen  months,  during  which 
many  of  the  Covenanters  died  in  the  maintenance  of  their 
convictions.  But  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  1680  that 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  417 


Isobel  attracted  attention  by  reason  of  her  outspoken 
utterances  against  the  tyranny  under  which  the  country 
suffered.  It  was  not  long,  then,  before  she  was  arraigned 
for  her  sentiments,  and,  in  the  simplicity  of  her  nature, 
volunteered  the  confession  that  she  was  in  communication 
with  some  of  those  who  had  been  declared  rebels.  The 
magistrates,  however,  charitably  sought  to  shield  her  from 
the  effects  of  actions  the  serious  purport  of  which  they  did 
not  believe  that  she  fully  realized,  and  so  dismissed  her 
with  a  caution  to  be  more  circumspect  in  her  speech.  But 
she  was  not  to  escape  thus  easily;  some  busybodies 
speedily  reported  what  she  had  said  to  the  Privy  Council, 
which  issued  a  warrant  for  her  arrest.  Under  a  charge  of 
treason,  she  was  carried  from  the  peaceful  seclusion  of  her 
humble  home,  and  immured  in  the  prison  at  Edinburgh. 
At  her  hearing  before  the  Privy  Council,  she  acknowledged 
to  acquaintance  with  all  those  for  whom  the  authorities 
were  seeking  as  assassins  of  Archbishop  Sharp.  When 
asked  if  she  did  not  know  that  she  was  aiding  those  whose 
hands  were  dyed  with  the  blood  of  murder,  she  replied 
that  she  had  never  regarded  the  death  of  the  “  Mr.  James 
Sharp”  as  being  murder.  Her  testimony  was  so  self- 
condemnatory  that,  according  to  the  law  of  the  day,  there 
appeared  to  be  no  recourse  but  to  sentence  her  to  hanging. 
She  says:  “The  Lords  pitied  me,  for  [said  they]  we  find 
reason  and  a  quick  wit  in  you;  and  they  desired  me  to  take 
it  to  advisement.  I  told  them  I  had  been  advising  on  it 
these  seven  years,  and  I  hoped  not  to  change  now.  They 
asked  if  I  was  distempered?  I  told  them  that  I  was  always 
solid  in  the  wit  that  God  had  given  me.”  She  was  then 
remanded  for  trial  before  the  Judiciary  Court.  Leaving 
the  thread  of  her  story  for  a  while,  we  will  take  up  that  of 
another  young  woman,  who  at  about  this  time  had  come 
under  a  like  accusation  and  was  suffering  imprisonment. 


418 


WOMAN 


She  was  but  a  poor  serving  woman,  who  had  been  a 
domestic  at  the  house  of  a  woman  who  had  sheltered  one 
of  the  same  fugitives  whose  cause  had  gotten  Isobel  Alison 
into  her  straits.  The  story  of  her  relations  with  the  Cov¬ 
enanters,  as  told  by  her  to  the  authorities,  was  a  simple 
one.  From  the  age  of  fourteen  she  had  heard  the  field 
preaching  of  the  Covenanters,  and  finally  she  had  been 
informed  against  and  arrested.  Her  demeanor  during  the 
ordeal  of  examination  was  firm  and  composed.  The  ques¬ 
tions  put  to  her  she  answered  without  hesitancy  or  reser¬ 
vation.  The  result  of  the  examination  showed  her  full 
sympathies  with  those  who  were  under  the  taint  of  rebel¬ 
lion  and  treason.  She  justified  their  acts  by  affirming 
that  the  king  had  broken  his  covenant  oath,  and  it  was 
lawful  to  disown  him. 

She  and  her  older  sister  in  misfortune  were  brought 
together  before  the  Judiciary  Court,  and  both  of  the  young 
women  declined  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  king 
and  lords.  There  was  nothing  remaining  to  do  but  to  put 
them  on  trial,  which  was  accordingly  done.  They  both 
stood  indicted  for  treason.  The  only  evidence  adduced 
against  them  was  their  own  confessions,  and  because  of 
the  nature  of  these  a  verdict  of  guilty  was  rendered.  The 
court  postponed  sentence  until  the  following  Friday,  when 
they  were  condemned  to  be  hanged.  Not  a  particle  of 
proof  had  been  produced  of  their  having  joined  in  concoct¬ 
ing  any  schemes  against  either  Church  or  State;  they  had 
simply  let  their  tongues  wag  too  freely  upon  the  imper¬ 
sonal  question,  so  far  as  it  concerned  them,  as  to  whether 
a  certain  assassination  was  justified.  The  prosecution  had 
been  conducted  by  the  king’s  advocate,  Sir  George  Mac¬ 
kenzie,  that  “  noble  wit  of  Scotland,”  as  he  was  styled  by 
Dryden,  but  whom  the  Scotch  people  have  branded  as  the 
“bluidy  Mackenzie”  of  the  popular  rhyme.  This  same 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  419 


advocate  who  secured  the  sentencing  of  the  two  young 
girls  for  expressions  of  opinion  upon  a  question  which 
was  purely  one  of  casuistry  wrote  in  one  of  his  Essays: 
“  Human  nature  inclines  us  wisely  to  that  pity  which  we 
may  one  day  need;  and  few  pardon  the  severity  of  a 
magistrate,  because  they  know  not  where  it  may  stop.” 

During  the  period  intervening  between  their  condemna¬ 
tion  and  their  execution,  they  were  visited  by  kindly  dis¬ 
posed  ministers  of  the  Established  Church  and  others,  who 
sought  to  persuade  them  out  of  their  beliefs.  But  to  no 
purpose;  even  the  promise  of  a  full  pardon  failed  to  move 
either  of  them  from  the  steadfastness  of  their  expressed 
convictions.  In  order  to  surround  their  execution  with  as 
much  of  ignominy  as  possible,  it  was  ordered  that  five 
women,  convicted  of  the  murder  of  their  illegitimate  chil¬ 
dren,  should  be  hanged  along  with  them.  In  their  last 
hour  upon  earth,  the  young  women  were  sustained  by  the 
fortitude  of  their  faith.  The  attempt  to  make  them  hear 
the  ministrations  of  a  curate  was  frustrated  by  the  two 
young  women  singing  together  the  Twenty-third  Psalm. 
Upon  the  scaffold  they  continued  their  religious  devotions; 
and  in  the  midst  of  their  calm,  confident  declarations  of 
faith  in  Christ  and  of  their  innocence  of  any  real  wrong, 
they  perished. 

The  transit  from  religion  to  pleasure  is,  after  all,  but  a 
short  passage  from  one  department  of  life  to  another,  and 
the  story  of  the  women  of  Scotland  and  of  Ireland  would 
not  be  complete  without  notice  of  some  of  that  group  of 
famous  Irish  women  who  were  conspicuous  upon  the  stage 
of  Great  Britain  in  the  eighteenth  century — women  whose 
excellence  served  to  raise  the  dramatic  art  to  the  point  of 
prominence  and  dignity  which  it  attained  during  that 
period.  One  of  the  earliest  of  that  group  who  gave  lustre 
to  the  stage  was  Margaret  Woffington.  The  story  of  her 


420 


WOMAN 


life  is  a  record  of  high  achievement  in  the  histrionic  pro¬ 
fession,  although  it  is  as  well  a  record  of  frailty — a  fact 
unfortunately  too  often  true  of  actresses  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  the  standards  of  their  art  were  supposed  to 
absolve  them  to  an  extent  from  the  ordinary  demands  of 
circumspection  in  conduct.  She  had  all  the  susceptibility 
of  the  Celtic  temperament,  and  her  warm  Irish  blood  was 
easily  made  to  surge  through  her  veins  in  waves  of  pas¬ 
sion,  although,  when  not  indulging  in  a  fit  of  temper,  she 
was  bright,  vivacious,  witty,  and  entertaining  to  a  degree. 
Arthur  Murphy,  in  his  Life  of  Garrick,  says:  “  Forgive  her 
one  female  error,  and  it  might  fairly  be  said  of  her  that 
she  was  adorned  with  every  virtue;  honour,  truth,  benev¬ 
olence,  and  charity  were  her  distinguishing  qualities. ” 
This  much  said  for  the  weakness  of  her  character,  we  can 
concern  ourselves  altogether  with  the  strength  of  her 
genius.  The  circumstances  of  her  birth  were  not  fortu¬ 
nate,  nor  was  there  anything  in  them  to  predicate  the  dis¬ 
tinguished  place  she  was  to  fill  in  the  public  eye.  The  year 
of  her  birth  is  variously  given.  It  was  probably  in  1714 
that  she  first  saw  the  light,  in  a  miserable  slum  of  the 
city  of  Dublin.  Her  father  was  a  bricklayer,  and  died 
when  she  was  but  five  years  old.  At  that  early  age  she 
had  to  take  her  part  of  the  home  responsibilities  and  earn 
money  to  aid  in  the  support  of  her  family;  this  she  did  by 
serving  as  a  water  carrier.  The  advent  of  a  French 
dancer  into  Dublin  at  about  this  time  marked  an  epoch 
in  the  life  of  Peggy.  She  brought  with  her  a  troupe  of 
acrobats  and  rope  dancers,  and  the  exhibition  she  offered 
attracted  large  audiences.  In  order  to  afford  a  novel  fea¬ 
ture,  which  should  at  the  same  time  affect  local  interest, 
Madame  Violante,  the  head  of  the  amusement  company, 
arranged  for  an  operatic  presentation  which  should  be 
participated  in  by  some  of  the  bright  Irish  children  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  42 1 

whom  she  had  been  drawn.  The  Beggars’  Opera  was  then 
in  the  height  of  its.  popularity,  and  this  was  the  play  she 
fixed  upon.  Little  Peggy  Woffington,  not  quite  ten  years 
old,  had  the  chief  female  part.  From  this  simple  intro¬ 
duction  to  the  amusement-loving  public  started  the  train  of 
development  in  the  life  of  this  young  Irish  girl,  which  was 
to  make  her  the  captivating  actress,  the  beautiful  and  witty 
woman,  who  bewitched  Garrick  and  Sheridan. 

The  novelty  of  the  conception  attracted  much  notice, 
and  the  opera  was  given  before  large  houses.  Other 
plays  and  farces  were  staged  in  the  same  way.  While 
Peggy  played  principal  parts  on  the  stage,  her  mother 
sold  oranges  to  the  patrons  at  the  entrance  to  the  theatre. 
Matters  continued  this  way  until  Peggy  Woffington  was 
sixteen  years  of  age,  by  which  time  she  had  become  noted 
for  ease  and  grace  as  a  dancer,  although  her  coarseness  of 
voice  and  pronounced  brogue  debarred  her  from  any  im¬ 
portant  playing  part.  Her  opportunity  came,  however, 
when  a  favorite  actress  who  was  to  take  the  part  of 
Ophelia  was,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  incapacitated  from  so 
doing.  There  was  no  recourse  but  to  permit  Peggy  Wof¬ 
fington  to  take  it.  Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  under 
which  she  labored,  her  interpretation  of  the  character  was 
quite  favorably  received.  She  had  been  developing  in 
grace  of  figure  and  of  feature,  and  had  ripened  into  a 
young  woman  of  dazzling  fairness,  perfect  form,  with  eyes 
luminous  and  black,  shaded  by  long  lashes  and  arched  by 
exquisitely  pencilled  eyebrows. 

She  was  just  twenty  years  of  age  when  she  completely 
turned  the  heads  of  the  Dublin  theatre-goers  by  the  mag¬ 
nificence  of  her  impersonation  of  Sir  Harry  Wildare  in  The 
Constant  Couple.  Her  first  appearance  in  London  was  not 
at  the  behest  of  her  art,  but,  unfortunately,  as  a  result  of 
the  arts  of  an  admirer  to  whose  addresses  she  had  given 


422 


WOMAN 


some  favor,  and  who  led  her  to  go  to  the  English  metrop¬ 
olis  with  him  under  promise  of  marriage.  This  regrettable 
circumstance  was  soon  followed  by  her  repudiation  of  the 
man  on  finding  out  his  real  character.  She  was  not  long 
off  the  stage,  and  in  1740  the  playbills  announced  the 
first  appearance  of  Miss  Woffington  in  England.  She  drew 
large  houses,  and  greatly  widened  her  reputation  as  a  lead¬ 
ing  actress  of  her  time.  To  give  the  plays  in  which  she 
took  principal  parts  during  her  first  London  season  would 
be  to  enumerate  the  best  productions  of  the  English  stage 
at  that  time.  It  is  said  of  her  that  before  the  season  was 
half  over,  Miss  Woffington  had  become  the  fashion.  Among 
the  many  swains  who  followed  in  her  wake  and  indited 
to  her  amorous  missives  and  verses  was  Garrick.  He 
pursued  his  lovemaking  with  all  seriousness,  and  made  his 
assault  not  solely  upon  the  heart  of  the  butterfly  beauty, 
but  upon  her  mind  as  well.  He  saw  that  beneath  all  the 
audacities  of  her  mind  and  irregularities  of  life  there  was 
a  noble  nature,  which  the  circumstances  of  her  birth  and 
training  had  never  permitted  true  expression.  His  inten¬ 
tions  were  entirely  honorable,  but  whenever  the  subject, 
of  marriage  was  broached  by  him  she  managed  to  switch 
off  the  conversation  to  a  lighter  subject.  Her  coquettish¬ 
ness  would  not  permit  her  to  take  seriously  the  addresses 
of  the  man  whom  she  doubtless  greatly  admired  and  loved. 
When  she  was  regarded  by  everyone  else  as  without  a 
moral  equivalent  for  her  artistic  temperament,  Garrick 
steadfastly  refused  to  regard  her  simply  as  a  vain,  flighty, 
and  vacillating  person.  He  was  rewarded  by  being  the  only 
man  whom  she  ever  seriously  thought  of  marrying. 

Her  mode  of  life  was  not  conducive  to  the  furtherance 
of  her  health,  and  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  thirty- 
seven  years  her  friends  saw  a  change  both  in  the  demeanor 
and  the  appearance  of  the  witty  woman.  The  seeds  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  423 


an  internal  disorder  had  been  sown,  but,  with  her  usual 
recklessness,  she  failed  to  heed  the  premonitions  of  nature 
until  the  malady  was  too  far  advanced  for  cure.  At  about 
this  time  the  famous  John  Wesley  was  stirring  London 
with  his  preaching.  She  attended  his  chapel  through 
curiosity,  and  afterward  from  conviction.  She  was  clear¬ 
headed  and  honest  enough  to  see  the  force  of  the  religious 
truth  which  he  presented,  and  was  brought  quite  under 
the  influence  of  the  great  preacher.  As  a  result  of  the 
awakening  of  her  religious  nature,  she  determined  on  the 
reformation  of  her  private  life,  although  she  does  not  ap¬ 
pear  to  have  linked  with  that  the  purpose  of  quitting  her 
profession.  She  resolved,  however,  not  to  remain  before 
the  public  until  they  tired  of  her.  As  she  herself  ex¬ 
pressed  it:  “I  will  never  destroy  my  reputation  by  cling¬ 
ing  to  the  shadow  after  the  substance  is  gone.  When  I  can 
no  longer  bound  on  the  boards  with  elastic  step,  and  when 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  public  begins  to  show  symptoms  of 
decay,  that  night  will  be  the  last  appearance  of  Margaret 
Woffington.” 

She  was  not  destined  to  remain  before  the  public  until 
they  wearied  of  her;  on  May  3,  1757,  she  appeared  as 
Rosalind  in  As  You  Like  It.  The  circumstances  of  the 
tragic  close  of  her  dramatic  career,  as  quoted  from  a  con¬ 
temporary  writer  in  Blackburn’s  Illustrious  Irish  Women, 
were  as  follows:  “  She  went  through  Rosalind  for  four  acts 
without  my  perceiving  she  was  in  the  least  disordered;  but 
in  the  fifth  she  complained  of  great  indisposition.  I  offered 
her  my  arm,  the  which  she  graciously  accepted;  I  thought 
she  looked  softened  in  her  behaviour,  and  had  less  of  the 
hauteur.  When  she  came  off  at  the  quick  change  of  dress, 
she  again  complained  of  being  ill,  but  got  accoutred,  and 
returned  to  finish  the  part,  and  pronounced  in  the  epilogue 
speech, — f  If  it  be  true  that  good  wine  needs  no  bush,  it  is 


424 


WOMAN 


as  true  that  a  good  play  needs  no  epilogue/  &c.,  &c.  But 
when  she  arrived  at  ‘  If  I  were  among  you,  I  would  kiss  as 
many  of  you  as  had  beards  that  pleased  me/  her  voice 
broke,  she  faltered,  endeavoured  to  go  on,  but  could  not 
proceed;  then,  in  a  voice  of  tremor,  screamed,  ‘O  God! 
O  God!’  and  tottered  to  the  stage  door  speechless,  where 
she  was  caught.  The  audience,  of  course,  applauded  until 
she  was  out  of  sight,  and  then  sunk  into  awful  looks  of 
astonishment — both  young  and  old,  before  and  behind  the 
curtain — to  see  one  of  the  most  handsome  women  of  the 
age,  a  favourite  principal  actress,  and  who  had  for  several 
seasons  given  high  entertainment,  struck  so  suddenly  by 
the  hand  of  death  in  such  a  situation  of  time  and  place, 
and  in  her  prime  of  life,  being  about  forty-four. ” 

Such  were  the  circumstances  attending  the  last  appear¬ 
ance  of  Margaret  Woffington,  who,  notwithstanding  she 
died  in  the  prime  of  life  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  had 
been  for  twenty-seven  years  the  delight  of  the  play-going 
public.  The  three  years  she  lingered  as  a  mere  skeleton 
of  her  former  self  were  spent  in  trying  to  awaken  the 
consciences  of  her  late  theatrical  associates.  Some  of 
these  scouted  her  new  spirit  as  hypocrisy,  and  insinuated 
that  religion  was  her  recourse  only  when  beauty  and  spirits 
had  been  lost.  But  the  One  who  judgeth  the  secrets  of 
men's  hearts  is  not  so  uncharitable  in  His  judgment  of  His 
creatures.  It  may  be  believed  that  the  influence  which 
she  received  from  the  chapel  meetings  of  John  Wesley  was 
the  beginning  of  a  genuine  religious  life  and  character, 
and  that  it  brought  from  her  Maker  that  commendation 
which  was  ungenerously  denied  her  by  her  associates. 

These  brief  sketches  of  the  lives  of  some  of  the  daugh¬ 
ters  of  Scotland  and  of  Ireland  illustrate  the  principal  char¬ 
acteristics  of  the  women  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race.  Among 
all  the  nations  of  the  world  no  women  hold  as  high  a  place 


THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND  425 

for  pure  morals  and  high  courage.  The  spiritualizing  effect 
of  the  profound  religious  feeling  of  these  people — although 
in  the  form  of  their  religious  faith  the  Scotch  and  the  Irish 
are  for  the  most  part  so  diametrically  different — accounts 
in  a  large  measure  for  their  conservation  of  the  facts  and 
forces  of  the  religious  life.  The  soil  of  both  Ireland  and 
Scotland  was  bedewed  for  centuries  with  the  tears  of  afflic¬ 
tion  and  of  persecution;  the  blood  of  martyrs  who  cheer¬ 
fully  laid  down  their  lives  at  the  dictates  of  religion  and 
that  highest  social  expression  of  the  religious  instinct,  the 
noblest  piety  of  the  human  race — patriotism.  Out  of 
all  the  oppression,  rapacity,  confiscation,  which  the  two 
peoples  experienced  in  different  forms  and  different  de¬ 
grees,  arose  an  unworldly  ideal,  a  sense  of  the  invisible 
realm.  The  sturdy  Calvinist  matron  of  the  Scottish  High¬ 
lands  is  no  more  religious,  no  more  the  product  of  the 
travails  of  her  country,  no  more  under  the  inspiration  and 
exaltation  of  high  principle,  than  her  less  fortunately  placed 
sister  of  the  Green  Isle,  whose  religion  is  at  the  opposite 
extreme  of  the  forms  of  Christian  faith.  The  women  of 
both  peoples  can  point  with  tearful  joy  to  the  history 
of  their  sex  as  a  scroll  of  fame  and  a  record  of  noble 
achievement. 


• 

• 

• 

t- 

■ 

• 

•  7 

- 

. 

<? 


■ 


, 


_  — 


■ IE. 


_ 


- - — - — 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE  .  v 

I  THE  WOMEN  OF  PREHISTORIC  BRITAIN .  I 

II  THE  WOMEN  OF  ANCIENT  BRITAIN  .  23 

III  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS .  43 

IV  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  ANGLO-NORMANS .  77 

V  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES .  103 

VI  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MANORS .  129 

VII  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MONASTERIES  .  1 5 1 

VIII  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES .  1 71 

IX  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD .  I93 

X  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD .  219 

XI  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  PERIOD .  253 

XII  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD .  279 

XIII  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY .  309 

XIV  THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY .  341 

XV  THE  WOMEN  OF  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND. .  3^1 


ENG.  W 


427 


. 

' 

-  - 

' 

: 


. 


- 


'4  ' 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


SUBJECT  ARTIST  PAGE 

Charles  II.  and  Lady  Castlemaine, 

Duchess  of  Cleveland . IV.  P.  Frith,  R.A.  ...  Fronts. 

Edith  finding  the  body  of  Harold  •  Francois  Schommer  .....  88 

Marriage  of  Isabella  of  Valois  to 

Richard  II . From  the  Froissart  manuscript 

in  the  Biblioth'eque  Nationale  1 32 

Honi  soit  qui  mat y  pense . A.  Chevalier  Tayler  ....  144 

Dining  in  the  fifteenth  century  .  .  From  a  miniature  of  the  period  200 


Audience  to  an  ambassador  .  •  .  •  Leon  y  Escosura . 232 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry . Mrs.  E.  M.  JVard . 344 

Assassination  of  Rizzio . E.  Siberdt . 408 


eng.  w. 


429 


DATE  DUE 

NOV  2  9 

1988 

i  A  Kl  n 

n  inn 

RFC  i  a  lc 

GO 

JmN  l 

U  Id  jO 

UL-L/  j  lo 

JO 

Fll)  l  4 

lyMF 

i  sj 

- 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U  S  A. 

9031 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


01327755 


HQ  WOMAN 

1121 
•  W87 
v.  9 


Bapst  Library 

Boston  College 

Chestnut  Hill  67,  Mass. 


